The Nigerian government has banned the airing and
distribution of the documentary, Fueling Poverty, a
30-minute film which documents the massive
poverty in Nigeria and advocates against corruption
and greed in the country.
The documentary, released late in 2012, was produced by
young filmmaker, Ishaya Bako, in partnership with the
Open Society for West Africa [OSIWA].
After the project was completed last year, Mr. Bako sent it
in to the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, a
national agency which vets, classifies, and approves films
and videos meant for distribution and exhibition in Nigeria.
But in an April 8 letter to Mr. Bako, exclusively obtained by
PREMIUM TIMES Friday, the agency prohibited the
distribution and exhibition of the documentary in Nigeria,
saying its contents "are highly provocative and likely to
incite or encourage public disorder and undermine
national security."
The letter, signed by the NFVCB's Head of Legal Services,
Effiong Inwang, warned the filmmaker against violating the
order, saying "all relevant national security agencies are
on the alert. A copy of this letter has been sent to the
Director General, Department of State Services and the
Inspector General of Police for their information."
The banning of the documentary, seen by critics as further
evidence of Nigeria's creeping descent into dictatorship,
came on the same day that four journalists of Abuja-based
Leadership newspaper were detained by the police for
refusing to name their source for a story which alleged the
presidency was plotting to sabotage the merger of the
leading opposition parties in the country.
A review of Fueling Poverty
Fueling Poverty, which addresses the serious issue of
corruption in governance, compresses the reality of
Nigerians into a 30- minutes film that immediately evokes
a lot of passion-mostly anger.
The documentary goes into life, sucks from it and forms
art out of it. In this sense, there is a connection between
art and community in a way that art operates, socially
responsible to the society it belongs.
The producers of Fueling Poverty say the essential aim of
the documentary is to re-enact the "process of change
driven by Nigerians."
In the mind of the filmmaker, Bako, if Nigerians are
properly educated, they can hold government responsible
and accountable to its actions. So, in his 30 minutes
production, he tries to document the reality of
contemporary Nigerian abyss and chaos, but laces the the
work with a pungent advocacy against corruption and
greed.
Inspired by the huge scam around the fuel subsidy
exposed last year, Fueling Poverty was originally designed
to be a film "advocating for the full implementation of the
report of the fuel subsidy probe," however, its final
realization included intrigues by Nigerian leaders who
mange the oil resource and the uncanny manner in which
the report of a probe into the fuel subsidy scam was
turned into a charade. The film ultimately evolved into one
moving, though painful, narrative against corruption and
materialism in Nigeria.
The film, Mr. Bako says, was "not just talking about scam
but the culture and greed in Nigeria". He said it was a
timely and interesting journey, because the film covers
"real issues, on everyday life."
The documentary is announced with an attention grabbing
sound track, by Femi Kuti. He was one of the prominent
figures of the occupy movement with ordinary Nigerian
instantaneously drawn to him because of the popularity of
his songs and his savour for criticising Nigeria's
government, something Femi Kuti learned from his father,
Fela, whom Nigerians still revere.
The documentary starts with the strong presence of Nobel
Laureate, Wole Soyinka, and his commandeering voice
which immediately seizes a viewer into listening. He
characterizes the subsidy scheme "a seven billion scam
perpetrated at the federal government level. …[as]
essentially a scam scheme." He goes on to relate it to the
prevailing corruption in Nigeria's ruling class.
The film then transits to actual footages of the occupy era.
It was dominated by actual events of the occupy Nigeria
movement, printed material of newspaper reports ,
recreations with animations, interviews with renowned
Nigerians, and interviews of ordinary Nigerians impacted
by the subsidy removal from fuel in January and the rising
cost of fuel occasioned by the corruption in governance.
The filmmaker uses a lot of panoramic shots especially in
presenting the occupy protests. This is particularly brilliant
as it tells of the high number of Nigerians who were
aggrieved at the exorbitant price of the fuel and the
attendant poverty. Then, there are footages that recall the
real violence government perpetrated on Nigerians during
the protest with the aid of its armed personnel.
The fraud perpetrated by independent importers of fuel
and Nigeria's statutory oil agencies, was brought to lime
light in the documentary. It captures footages of some of
the sittings of investigations into the subsidy scam. At this
point, what the viewer sees are various government
officials brandishing contradictory figures, exposing the
ongoing sleaze and sloppiness with which the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation and Petroleum Product
Pricing Regulatory Agency handle the resource which
Nigeria's economy is heavily dependent on. There is also
an insight into how independent marketers get subsidy
payments for products that were never imported.
Mr. Bako, with his documentary, tried to articulate the
sentiments, emotions and the frustrations of Nigerians. His
method of selecting footages from reality and editing it to
form a coherent, informative art is ingenious. He gives the
viewer a peek into the lives of ordinary Nigerians who are
affected by corruption in the oil industry. Several times,
the viewer hears the voices of Nigerians in their own
language, without sophistication narrating the pangs of
the corruption.
In those voices, there is a lot of anguish, tales of not being
able to afford a living, tales of frustrations abound, but
most worrisome are the tales of resignation. One of the
documentary's participants, a commercial bus driver who
is on an extremely long fuel queue that is characteristic of
fuel stations across Nigeria, is heard saying "we can't fight
the government… they are bigger than us".
In that scene, beside the revelation that the untold
hardship and the corruption in Nigeria has created; there
is a remarkable connection between the inability of
government to address the corruption in the oil sector and
the extremely long queues witnessed at filling station 11
months after the fuel subsidy scam was highlighted. Yet,
11 months after, no government official has been
convicted.
The film wraps up with another Femi Kuti's song, 'bo bo', a
slang for lie. The song speaks about the lies of Nigerian
leaders.
This immediately transports the viewer to January, when
Nigerians staged the occupy Nigeria and shut down the
economy of Nigeria. The sound track served as one of the
major thematic songs, energising people at the various
occupy centres especially in Lagos. At that time, a lot of
Nigerians felt power in their hands, power to tackle
corruption in governance.
It did not last for long.
Just one week after the protest, the strike was called off
by the Nigerian Labour Congress, one of the key
participants in the protest. Nigerians were left
disillusioned. But the filmmaker says the film is a call to
action, a reminder that citizens can hold their officials
accountable.
President Goodluck Jonathan and Press Freedom
Press freedom in Nigeria has increasingly come under
threat since President Jonathan was elected in 2011.
On December 24, the State Security Service, SSS, in a
military-era jack-boot tactics, stormed the homes of two
journalists who write for Al-Mizan, a Kaduna-based Hausa
language newspaper, and arrested them.
They were arrested over a story which detailed how the
Joint Task Force in Yobe State was allegedly engaging in
extra-judicial arrests and murder of innocent citizens.
The two journalists were released on January 1 without
charge only for one of them to be rearrested on February
14. He was released on February 22 and no charges were
pressed against him.
On February 12, two radio journalists of Wazobia FM and a
cleric were arrested and charged to court over allegations
that their programme triggered the killing of nine female
healthcare workers shot to death in the restive northern
metropolis.
The Kano state police claimed the radio reporters incited
the killings when they discussed fears about the
vaccination campaign.
On February 22, the National Broadcasting Commission,
NBC, suspended the operating license of Wazobia FM over
the same matter.
The NBC continued with its muzzling agenda on March 3
when it suspended the broadcast of a popular programme,
Dimokradiyya a you, on Radio Gotel, Yola. The station is
owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is
especially critical of President Jonathan.
The commission also suspended another programme,
Taba Kidi Taba Karatu, on Adamawa Broadcasting
Corporation, Yola, on the same day.
April 30, 2014, 10:07:25 AM