SATURDAY, April 30 at Freedom Park, Lagos Island, a coterie of artists, activists and art advocates will gather to examine the state of censorship and freedom of artistic expression int the country.

Kicking off at 11am in the Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery of the Freedom Park, the Summit is organised by Unchained Vibes Africa, via its now popular platform Freedom Vibes Series, a monthly discursive and performance-based programme which advocates primarily for freedom of artistic expressio

Organised in hybrid format — In-person and virtual — the summit, according to the Executive Director of UVA, Ayodele Ganiu, is “to facilitate engagement and mutual understanding that can improve the current regulatory environment.”

The theme is “Protecting Creativity through Participatory Reforms,” and is especially targeted at tailored to suit the current season of politicking in the country, hence it is nicknamed “Democracy Vibes.”

Ganiu continued, “The summit is bringing together musicians, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, comedians, poets, cultural policy experts and other practitioners in the Nigerian creative sector as well as civil society organizations to facilitate meaningful dialogue with government officials on the need for policy reforms that will address issues and concerns around recent government actions and policies that may undermine creativity and threaten artistic freedom.”

Following the summit is the second leg of the package, the Freedom Vibes concert, couched in the format of a “Poetry Concert.” It is the 5th edition of the monthly series and will parade some of the very best of the poetic voices in the country today.

On stage at the two-hour concert kicking off at 5pm will be the top of the bills and well tested performance-poets: Sage Has.san, Dike Chukwumerije, RezdaPoet, Iquo DianaAbasi and Victory Ashaka. They will be joined by the activist-rapster, Ruggedman as Guest Artist, while social and rights activist, Eedris Abdulkareem will be the host.

“The Concert will bring together leading Nigerian spoken word poets for a convergence with Afro-pop musicians to promote freedom of expression. The event will focus on spoken word, using oral poetic performance art and performers’ aesthetics of recitation and word play to engage the audience, conveying important messages about freedom of democracy and expression,” stated Ayodele Ganiu, the Excutive Producer of Unchained Vibes Africa, UVA, organisers of the Freedom Vibes series.

Giving background to the summit, the research arm of the UVA, issued the following statement:

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‘…Restrictions create an atmosphere of fear for many artists and has fostered self-censorship…’

(Being text of a review of recent censorship and artistic freedom restrictions in Nigeria, produced by Unchained Vibes Africa)

ARTISTIC freedom remains a grossly violated fundamental right in Nigeria. Artists are confronted with a system of censorship imposed by a variety of actors. There are central censorship bodies like National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), a federal agency which controls content (including works of art) transmitted via radio and television and National Film and Video censors Board, another federal body which requires producers of movies and related audiovisual works to seek approval before they can release these works to the public. Some states such as Kano and Lagos also have their own censorship boards, a situation which directly or indirectly imposes double censorship mechanisms on artists and creative practitioners operating in these states.

As a result of censorship, the right of artists to criticize government policies and demand accountability in governance is threatened. Artists are limited by excessive censorship regulations, laws and other restrictions which when defied, put their personal safety and freedom in jeopardy. Most of the art censorship regulations are disguised as protecting public morality, preserving cultural heritage and averting political and religious tensions, prevention of hate speech, incitement, defamation, threats to national security, etc. More often than not, Unchained Vibes believe that these are used as excuses to censor critical works of art and silence artists’ activism. While it is appropriate for government to regulate artistic contents in the form of age classification to protect children from exposure to adult contents, research findings have revealed that Nigerian authorities often only use overly broad censorship regulations as a pretext to stifle freedom of expression.

In Northern Nigeria, the situation is more concerning. Although art has been used in the region for decades as a tool against authoritarian rule and corrupt leadership, artists often face barriers imposed by censorship rules or suffer punishment for defying them. Since the introduction of sharia legal system in northern states in 1999, art censorship has been a recurring issue and inconsistent with the national constitution and international law. The Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB), established in 2001, is considered the most visible censorship body in Northern Nigeria responsible for many arrests and prosecutions of artists. Many rules enforced by KSCB also differ from federal censorship rules to the extent that content that can be taken for granted in a southern state like Lagos, may become a subject of criminal prosecution if released or distributed in Kano.

At the end of December 2021, Aminu Nasara, a Kano-born filmmaker, was reportedly declared wanted for allegedly promoting immorality with a movie titled Makaranta. According to the filmmaker, the film was produced for sex education as opposed to the allegation of immorality levelled against him. Throughout 2021, there were campaigns by NBC and NFVCB against hate speech. The rules on hate speech are too broad to distinguish that threaten artistic freedom.  The NFVCB, in September 2021 reportedly announced a ban on movies with stories that glamourize villains. Similarly, the Kano Censorship Board, announced the prohibition of showing or selling movies displaying kidnappings, drug addiction and snatching of GSM phones in the State.

In January 2020, the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) reportedly ordered cinemas nationwide to stop showing a movie, Sugar Rush. Although the NVFCB executive director reportedly denied the action as an act of censorship, it was widely believed that the movie was suspended because of the depiction of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as an incompetent organization. The same year 2020, the NFVCB reportedly asked for edits before approving The Milkmaid, Nigeria’s second submission for the Oscars best international film category. The movie addresses the issue of female resilience and the protracted Boko Haram crisis in the North East. According to media reports, it took several weeks of negotiations for the movie to be approved after about 24 minutes of footage were removed from the original cut. Consequently, the approved version was stripped of some of the film’s most powerful scenes. Musician, Matthew Joshua Chukwubuikem, professionally known by his stage name as M-Josh, was reportedly threatened by a soldier for singing a song about human rights violations in the country. 

Between January 2019 and August 2020, several artists were arrested and criminally charged in relation to their artistic works. In May 2020, poet and broadcast journalist Rotimi Jolayemi, a.k.a Oba Akewi, was arrested for sending a poem to a WhatsApp group which was highly critical of Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture. In April, the Kano State Censorship Board banned two Hausa political education drama series from being aired on television for allegedly corrupting the norms, values, religion and culture of the people of Kano.

In December 2019, 8 musicians from Kebbi State were physically assaulted for a song critical of Governor Attiku Badugu. In September 2019, famous Kano singer, Nazir Ahmad, popularly called Sarkin Wakan Kano, was arrested for allegedly releasing two uncensored musical albums and operating an illegal studio. The albums reportedly criticized the State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje. For over a year, singer Mohammad Yusuf Yakasai, better known as A.G.Y, was imprisoned following his conviction on June 19, 2019 for a song he released that criticized Kano state governor.

Although Nigeria has a long history of censorship, the state of artistic freedom has worsened in recent years. In August 2018, the National Broadcasting Commission sanctioned a radio station for playing “This is Nigeria”, a song by Falz which criticized government slow response to terrorism, insecurity and other social ills in the country. In January 2017, members of a comedy group known as Naija’s Craziest comprising Mc Toothpick, Laff Mayor, Mc Tutalk and Mc Samorano were reportedly arrested by the police in Lagos for their part in the production of a video that parodied members of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Church and its General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka.

All these restrictions have created an atmosphere of fear for many artists and has fostered self-censorship, a practice that has undermined and continued to undermine democracy and rule of law in Nigeria.

Research and Advocacy Unit, Unchained Vibes Africa