The regulatory role of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has come under critical appraisal by some Nigerian parents and professionals who are raising alarm that the violation of the commission’s content code by some broadcasters has dire consequences on their children.
The parents, who confess to been overwhelmed by the current level of nudity as seen in both Nigerian home videos (Nollywood) and its musical counterpart in the industry laments that even some churches are becoming sexually over-charged environment that cannot guarantee the safety of children.
Gracious Akintayo, editor-in-chief, Providence Media Concepts, publisher of a weekly magazine, accused the NBC of lacking in due diligent in its responsibility to Nigerian viewing audience particularly children, and argued that had the commission done its statutory mandate adequately, most of the musical videos currently playing on many Nigerian television stations would have long be banned.
“It is not just the NBC. Even the Nigerian Video Censor Board and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) are all guilty of the same negligence. Some of the Nollywood movies are anything but homely. And yet, they are shown during children’s belt. All these are results of inadequate monitoring by these government agencies”, he said.
Akintayo, who also did not spare broadcasters and the regulators for low quality media content on TV, said even when practitioners decides to show animation for the benefit of children, often times there are no lesson for the children to learn, calling on Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture to take keen interest in the production and airing of broadcast contents.
“There are TV stations I don’t allow my children to watch; even when they appear harmless. Many times I ask myself what is the lesson for my children in this cartoon? The answer is absolutely nothing other than subtle corruption. Children are easily influenced by what they watch. Broadcast regulators need to do more than they are currently doing in the interest of the Nigerian child. NBC should collaborate with the Video Censor Board and the Nigerian Copyright Commission and other relevant agencies for better results”, he told BD SUNDAY.
Acknowledging that it is increasingly becoming difficult for busy contemporary parents in search of daily bread to sufficiently monitor their children, he, however, said parents must still come to the terms that NBC as it is constituted today cannot adequately guarantee the protection of children against intruding sexual media contents, and thus, must take the necessary precautions to minimize the vulnerability of their children.
John Orhewere, principal lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, said, “should truth be told, the NBC and other broadcast regulators have fallen short in the discharge of their statutory mandate. The ‘look the other way’ attitude of regulators because broadcasters must make money at the expense of children, will hurt the country in the long run.”
“How can television be showing movies where there are violence, criminality, sexual scenes and other related vices in hours like 2 pm when children are just back from school? This has been on for a long time and when you mention it people would say the TV owners must make money. The kisses and violence our children watch on television is taking its toll now on the society. I can tell you that broadcasting checks by regulators in Nigeria is very low”, he said.
According to him, one of such negative influences nudity on Nigerian television is having on youths is seen in the semi nakedness in campuses, describing some tertiary institutions as ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ where many female students take pride in exposing sensitive parts of their bodies.
“In Auchi Poly now we are trying to introduce dress code in order to curtail these accesses. Not too long ago, parents of students decided to come to the school unannounced and were shocked at what they saw. Some of the students were hiding from their parents because of what they were wearing. The parents were shocked beyond measure to have seen what their children wear in school. You cannot seperate the rise in rape and related crimes from indecent dresses; and all these, our young ones learn watching television. The truth of the matter still remains that when you see kissing too much, whether on TV or around you, you will one day want to kiss”, he said.
He said the bizarre videos on Nigerian TV is too rampant at the moment for broadcast regulators to claim ignorant of the trend, and that the current administration must be ready to revoke licenses of broadcasters who violate the rules-particularly on children’s belt to serve as deterrent to others.
But Wale Fatade, executive director, Media Support Centre, said the NBC was still guiding broadcasters on best practices, but insists the only way to protect children from adults’ contents still remains parental control.
“Children are very impressionistic. I think NBC may lack the manpower to adequately monitor all the broadcast stations. They probably are overwhelmed with the numbers of issues they have to deal with. I think the laws are actually there. What we should be talking about now is how are they implemented. But I will rather advise that the best form of control is parental control. Television is a double edge sword. It can cut both ways. Television exacts a lot of influence on children. It is very bad for parents to use television as baby sitter for children”, he told BD SUNDAY.
Some men who spoke with BD SUNDAY on anonymity also complained that sexually explicit musical video movies and related advertisements are making Nigerian urban cities in particular sexually over charged, citing nudity in open places as examples.
“This is the era of sex marketing”, says Ozuka Onwuka, a Nigerian columnist, and laments that “If you turn right, sex leaps into your face; if you turn left, sex jumps at you. In the street, in the shopping mall, in the church, in the office, on your computer and phone, and even in your living room, sex chases you around.
“Sex-subtle or barefaced-has become all-pervasive in our society. Our society has become so sex-charged that the safety of our children is no longer guaranteed. Before, the rule was that during the children’s belt on TV, materials with adult content were not shown. These days, the only things that are not shown on our TV from morning to about 10 pm are commercials of alcoholic beverages. Any other thing goes. At such periods, TV stations are competing on which will show more Mexican soaps featuring deep kissing and erotic scenes every five minutes. Almost all the stations dedicate about two hours per day to music videos with bikini-clad girls dancing with men with lewd abandon”, he said.
He laments further that “then there are the so-called Nigerian and Ghanaian home videos that are anything but homely. Even though many of these films are rated 16 or 18, they are shown on regular TV stations during the day when children are home watching TV. Even within early news bulletins when families are expected to be watching TV, film trailers with smooching scenes are advertised. What do you do? Ban your children from watching TV? That is not an option for me. The only thing within my power is that I have ensured that they do not watch any TV/video material that is rated over 13. But what do I do when these adult materials are slotted into family belts?”
But Sunny Amojor, president, TotalMan Fellowship, an NGO whose mandate is raising stable men, was swift to lash out on the men, saying that the sex which men claim is chasing their lives is a repercussion of men’s failure at homes, in offices and in the society.
He said: “All the vices we have right now it is because the men themselves have not been properly taught. The women who dance in these nude videos are from home. The women in these so call home videos are from homes. The women who go to church in semi nakedness have men as parents at home and men as their pastors. All these nakedness we are seeing everywhere is a direct consequence of the failure of men in our society. What do you expect when men are not giving the right value at home? If men will change their lives, focus on the homes, a lot of these vices would be reduced to the barest minimal. It is the primary responsibility of the men to change the women; in the Nigerian government for instance, we have more men than women, in the churches men are leaders who should be telling the women how to dress proper; the men are father in the house who should be telling their daughters that exposing your body does not bring the kind of values I want in you. Children have more regard for their father than they do their mother. You find that women have lesser control over their children. They have more honour and respect for their father. When the father speaks it becomes a law. Men have failed in the house, failed in the organization that they work, failed in churches, failed in the society, and the failure is coming back to hurt them. Once men are dislocated, everything around them will be dislocated. The men will have to rise up and that is what we are doing as an NGO”.
He also admits that the current level of musical video and movies censorship in the country is too poor, and that what he has done for his own children is to guard against watching certain Nigerian TV channels in whatever hour because the contents available in such channels most of the time are for adults.
“When it comes to censorship in Nigeria, we are not doing a good job. We are just allowing anything that comes from anywhere to get across to our families, into our children. We shouldn’t do that. It is not proper. I don’t know what the NBC and other censor bodies are doing. For me, personal censorship we must do. The Churches, the Mosques and all the religious bodies must teach their people on how to be decent because there is so much vices going on as a result of indecent dresses in Nigerian right now and a lot of them are picked from the television.
“You have to personally as a parent look at the content of what your children are watching. Only you know the kind of virtue you want to inculcate in your children. For parents, it is a monstrous task; and for those who stay late at work and they are not at home most of the time, I don’t know how they will do it. If you have nannies, brothers and sisters in the house that don’t understand what you want, the kind of value you want your children to have, they will watch the TV when they want and the children will be there to pick up those things. No matter how busy the parents are I believe they should be able to monitor what the children are watching or to ensure the children don’t go near certain stations whether local or international. As a matter of fact, most Christian home that I know doesn’t even allow their children to watch TV between certain hours and limits the kind of channels they can have access to”, he said.
He urged Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, to review the current Nigeria’s broadcast laws and where necessary, amended to instill greater sanctions on erring broadcasters who violates the rules of the game by showing adults media contents during children’s hour.
Attempts to get official position of the NBC did not yield any result as Emeka Mba, Director General (DG) of the commission did not pick several calls to his cell phone. As at press time, he had yet to also reply text message sent to him on the issues.
