‘We are winning war against illegal movies’

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, Mr. Bamidele Balogun, has verbalized that the distribution and sale of uncensored and pirated films in the state have reduced.

A verbal expression on Monday verbally expressed Balogun verbalized when the executive members of the state chapter of Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria paid him a visit in his Ikeja office.

The executive secretary attributed the development to the efforts of the board and the cooperation of stakeholders in carrying out raids on illicit distribution channels in the state.

He verbally expressed, “The LSFVCB was set up to regulate the film and video industry in Lagos State and it must ascertain adherence to the law and forfend the interest of legitimate practitioners in the film industry.

“A number of raids were carried out in some components of the state in the last one year and 48 people were apprehended and prosecuted for illicitly selling uncensored and pirated films. Some of the raids were done in collaboration with some associations within the industry.”

Balogun verbalized albeit the board was not empowered to tackle piracy, it availed stakeholders in apprehending those involved in the activity on the grounds that such works did not undergo censorship procedures.

He integrated that the board had a construal with the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers to dispense illicit film sellers in motor parks and garages.

He verbalized, “Based on the unrelenting efforts of the board, I can categorically verbalize that the activities of these sellers of uncensored and pirated films have reduced to an immensely colossal extent.

“We are gradually winning the war against them, but this will not make us to repose on our oars. We will perpetuate to carry out enforcement exercises until Lagos is free of uncensored and pirated films.”

Balogun integrated that the law of the board was being reviewed to empower it to censor audio and visual musicals.

The Governor-General of PMAN, Kareem Osoba, expressed the readiness of PMAN as a body to cooperate with the regime to achieve its objectives.