The Censors Board, the organisation responsible for vetting music videos before they are released into the public has absolved itself of any blame in the controversy that has trailed the release of rapper Falz new single, ‘This Is Nigeria’.
Following the release of the single in which the artiste criticized the government, church, mosque, law enforcement agencies and others their spheres of the country, there have been serious outcry.
Responding to questions regarding the vetting of Falz’s new single in which the rapper described several atrocities taking place in Nigeria, the Director, Licensing Department of the NFVCB, Cornell Agim said the rapper, Falz didn’t bring his music video for licensing and rating before he released it to the public.
In an interview, the agency absolved itself of any blame saying that the rapper didnt bring the video for vetting insisting that it was unfortunate the agency’s monitoring team also hasn’t reported the video to the directorate.
Agim, also said that though it is their job to censor and rate videos before they get to the public, they can’t be everywhere. That is why journalists and members of the public affected by the visuals are expected to notify them. With that, they can investigate the videos.
His words, ‘the agency do censorship and rating of music video before it gets to the general public. We ensure we do analysis of those videos. We also try as much as possible not to tamper with the creative intention of any artiste except they come with some obscenity, which we most time kick against. BUT Falz didn’t bring his music video for licensing before it gets to the public. As the Director of Licensing, I haven’t seen the video. Same as the agency. None of our monitoring team has brought it to my notice. Hence, we didn’t censor it before it gets to the public.
He added that,
‘the truth is, most time we can’t reach out. We are handicap because we are not everywhere and we can’t be everywhere. That’s why people like you (journalists) should notify us once you see things like that. Bring them to our notice and we’ll investigate it and bring the perpetrators to book. Often time, we get complain from Nigerians, saying what’s the agency doing? We are trying our best though our best might not be good enough. That’s why we need people like you to supply us with information about the affected song.
The agency do organise sensational programmes for filmmakers and music video doctors. We held one recently in Bauchi, we called it consultative forum but many of them didn’t come. You invite them, they won’t come. Some of them will even ask you for transportation fee. We also print out handouts containing guidelines. If you visit our website, there are relevant materials on licensing and rating. But are they visiting the site? Are they reading the uploaded materials? Despite our efforts in sanitizing the industry, some of them would prefer to break the rules’.
This is however not the first time the organisation will adopt this position. However, as the days goes by, there is a possibility of the video being ban like others like it.
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