Nigerian govt decries growing cases of ritual killings, warns movie makers on contents

The Federal Government on Monday decried the growing cases of ritual killings, particularly in the South-West part of the country.

To check the dangerous trend, the government has directed filmmakers to place little emphasis on content on money rituals and other dangerous practices during production.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the call when he visited the office of the Daily Trust Newspaper in Abuja on Monday.

He said some suspects arrested recently confessed that that they learnt the act on social media.

He also blamed the Nollywood for featuring movies that encourage money rituals.

Mohammed said: “Many have also blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youth. To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board, the body set up to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria, to take this issue into consideration while performing its role of censoring and classifying films and videos.

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“I have also directed NFVCB to engage with stakeholders in the film industry in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.”

“For those who may still be in doubt, ritual killings have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years. Recently, in Ogun State, four young men, one of whom is 18 years old, murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals.

“One of them said they learnt about using human parts for money rituals from social media. Of course, you are also aware of a case involving a female student of the University of Jos who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend for ritual purposes. These killings have been widely reported by the media.

“The fact that some of these ritualists said they learnt the money-making tricks from some social media platforms has given a further fillip to our campaign to rid social media of unwholesome content.”

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