With the prohibition of all sorts of rituals by the Nigerian Films Censored Board, some thoughts come to mind.
Try and think in terms of possibilities not tied down by negativities. Avoid producing films that would foul the environment or pollute the environment. This is what Nollywood has come to be.
Why can’t you produce a film about the Minister of Power who solved the electric power problem with the help and cooperation of the Nigerian people? That’s cybernetic thinking. What is to be and not what has been. A film that would capture the minds and imagination of the Nigerian people, such that they eventually solve the power problem many thanks to Nollywood.
Why don’t you address the problem of open defecation as solved by a minister with the help and cooperation of the Nigerian people? 40 million Nigerians practice open defecation. We need public toilets, public baths and potable water. Why don’t you attend to the problem of 170 million Nigerians exposed to contaminated water?
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Why can’t you look at health issues like kidney failure, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, mental illness and come up with solutions to save Nigerians from these ailments in real life because you have captured their minds and their imagination?
What about the 20 million Nigerian children out of school and the 25 million unemployed? How can you fire the imagination of the Nigerian people or capture their minds so these problems are eventually solved?
What are you doing about civil-military relations? Anything for you? Amicable relations between civilians and soldiers; and civilians and police and other security agencies?
What are you doing about the civil service in the imagination of Professor Tunji Olaopa? Or do you think you are not relevant here?
How can your films help the Nigerian Parents Teachers Association to do their duties and do them excellently, strengthen the value of the naira to beat inflation, to patronise goods made in Nigeria? Why not? We are all in this together.
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth wrote from Romford, London, England
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