After years of dedicated advocacy, we are thrilled to announce that #SmokeFreeNollywood is finally here!
At a National Stakeholders Dialogue held in Enugu State on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the Director General of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Dr. Shuaibu Hussein, officially announced that the Honourable Minister of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, has approved the Regulation prohibiting smoking in Nigerian movies, popularly known as Nollywood.
This ministerial approval marks a significant victory for our #SmokefreeNollywood campaign.
As a reference, the DG presented to Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) an official copy of the Regulation titled: “Prohibition of Money Ritual Killing, Ritual Killing, Tobacco Product, Nicotine Product Promotion, Glamourization, Display in Movies, Musical Videos and Skits,” along with a covering note.
Since 2020, CAPPA has championed the cause, pushing for the enforcement of prohibitive measures against tobacco advertisement, promotion, and sponsorship, particularly within the movies and entertainment sector.
Our campaign to cleanse movies and TV screens of smoking has also seen us engage movie practitioners and stakeholders in Nollywood, Africa’s biggest film industry, urging them to develop and adopt a code of practice to eliminate smoking in movies. In a remarkable double victory, over 30 professional associations in the Nigerian movie industry, along with the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), signed an industry “Code of Practice” at the Stakeholders Meeting, pledging to utilise their platforms and networks to further the advocacy for a #SmokefreeNollwood.
This is not just a win for us and the entire tobacco control community in Nigeria but also for public health and millions of impressionable young minds whose futures will not be derailed or suffer the burden of tobacco-related diseases stemming from on-screen influences and indoctrination.
We are basking in this landmark notice against big tobacco. Even more, our gratitude is overflowing to friends, partners, colleagues, government agencies and officials, volunteers, and stakeholders in the Nollywood industry who have chosen to stand on the side of good and the people!