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JORIND 10 (2), June, 2012. ISSN 1596 - 8308. www.transcampus.org./journals, www.ajol.info/journals/jorind

NOLLYWOOD MOVIES ANDNIGERIAN YOUTHS-AN EVALUATION J. O.Nnabuko Department of Marketing. University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus,Nigeria and Tina C. Anatsui Department of Mass Communication. Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria E-mail: chinyere_06@yahoo.com+234-805-2422-918 Abstract This paper is an advocacys on the impacts of Nollywood movies as the two-edge sword for the national development. It contends that its establishment has helped greatly in developing talents, and serves as a medium of entertainment and communication. It also highlights various critics that praised the ability of Nollywood industry in the past, and expresses concern on the reverse focus on the negative themes and its negative impact on youth behaviour and the image of Nigeria. The qualitative and quantitative data analysis based on the empirical secondary and primary data were employed. The data collected on both were presented in tabular form and analyzed using simple percentages. Purposive random sampling technique and questionnaire as an instrument were used during the class-meeting. Keywords: Nollywood, behavior, youths, movies

Introduction Film was introduced into Nigeria in the 1900’s by the British colonialist who used it for propaganda purposes, while the church used it to spread the Gospel.The Colonial Administration and the Church saw film not only as a medium of entertainment but as an effective medium of communication [Akpabio, 2003]. The British colonialist with the Christian missionaries used film amongst other media to persuade Nigerians to accept Christianity, education and the western culture. On Monday, August 12, 1903, the first motion picture was shown in Nigeria at the Glover Memorial hall in Lagos by Mr. Balboa of Barcelona, Spain, under the management of a Nigerian Herbert Macaulay, who later closed his exhibition in Lagos and left to continue showing films in other West African countries. After his departure, an enterprising European merchant, Stanley Jones, began to show films in the same Glover Memorial Hall, and he showed his first films in November 1903, [Mgbejume, 1989], gradually it grew and became popular in the 1960’s. The Nigeria Home Movie industry thus, began from there.

Television broadcasting in Nigeria began in 1960’s and received government support in its early years, but by the mid-1980’s, every State had its own broadcasting station. Laws were made by the broadcast governing bodies to limit foreign program contents, however, the National Commission recommends a 60-40 local –foreign programme ratio for all broadcast stations, and so producers in Lagos began televising local popular theater productions. Many of these were later circulated on video and as a result, a small scale informal video movie trade developed. Nigerian film is thus a video movie industry which Nigerians call ‘home video’. This small local market in videos has exploded into a booming industry that has pushed foreign movies off the shelves in most African countries, and is now marketed in many parts of the world, but especially on the African continent. Nollywood films were initially produced with traditional analog video, such as Beta cam SP, but today in Nigeria, movies are produced using digital video technology. Call to remember in 1992, on the release of ‘Living in Bondage’, a film about a businessman whose dealings with a money cult result in the death of his wife, as the industry’s first blockbuster. Since then thousands of movies have

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been released. The Nigerian Home Movie industry is rated as the third-largest after Hollywood and Bollywood, releasing about 200 films per month [Cinema of Nigeria, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]. A Nigerian Film Institute was established in November 1995 in Jos. This establishment has helped greatly in developing talents for the Nigerian Movie Industry, hence, cinema in Nigeria from there began to blossom. However, the Nigerian film industry emerged over time, but the cost of production greatly hampered its progress. Film makers who were unable to cope with cost of shooting on celluloid turned to reversal film stock and later on video tapes [ibid]. So unlike America and India, the Nigerian film industry uses the video cassette format and recently the video compact Disc [VCD]. As a consequence, most Nigerian films are not shown in Cinema houses since they are shot straight into video tapes, replicated and sold for home viewing. The boom of Nigerian home video industry that is currently experiencing is credited to Nigerian businessmen of Igbo extraction, particularly Kenneth Nnebue, an electronic dealer and film promoter who taught that a retail market could be opened up by the sale of video. Kenneth Nnebue’s first film ‘Aje Ni Iya Mi’ in 1989 was very profitable and also served as a booster to home video productions, in spite of the fact that it was actually Yoruba traveling theatre artistes who began making video films in 1970’s. The early Nigerian films was actually emphasized on culture and history and to some extent morality, perhaps, the success of Nollywood today could be attributed to the ability of present day movie makers to emphasize contemporary realities which many Nigerians and Africans can relate to, such as: Divorce, Love, Political instability and unemployment, but today the reverse is the case because the main focus is on the negative side that can dent the image of Nigeria Society. However, the industry has been accused of over emphasizing negative themes by critics, and the industry’s over emphasis on negative themes is becoming national concern. The National film and video Censors Board, the industry’s regulatory

body, its guidelines for motion picture producers as a result called for productions to be above board in portrayal of violence, crimes, sex and pornography, vulgarity, obscenity, religion and other sensitive subjects [ NFVCB 2000: 107-111]. As a result, the board imposed a ban on many films such as; ‘I hate my village 1’ for promoting cannibalism and failing to uphold Nigeria‘s cultural values. The board also placed bans on seven films: ‘Shattered Home’, Outcast 1 &2’, ‘Night Out’ [;Girls for Sale], ‘‘Omo Empire’, ‘Isakaba 4’, ‘Terrorist Attack’ and ‘Unseen Forces’ due to lawlessness and upholding of immorality and cannibalism by the producers which is frowning the industry. An analysis of these selected movies reveal that issues highlighted in them include: violent robbery, ritual performances, rivalry, conflicts, sexual violence, organized crime, prostitution, murder, greed, avarice, impatience, jealously, envy, pride, arrogance, infidelity, treachery, occultism, etc. Gerbner cited in www.nollywood.com theorizes that the media violence has negative effects on the youths. He calls that “the main world syndrome” according to him, people exposed to so much violence have a perception that the world is a far more dangerous place than it really is. The study evaluates the impact of Nollywood movies on the Nigerian youths, image and the society at large, and its effects on the sociocultural behavior of Nigerian Youths. Statement of the problem Nigerian Nollywood movies have been accused of been portrayal of violence, and its adverse effect on the behaviors of Nigerian youths and the society at large are devastating. Hornby, [2000] contends that some violent materials in movies include: Sex scenes, nudity, obscenity, vulgar language curses, indecent dresses, killings, murder, rape beating up women, smoking, molestation and harassment. These are self-injurious in nature, and likely to affect the youths etc. It is obvious that Nollywood to a very large extent contributes to violence in Nigeria. A worrisome aspect of these films is that none of the film-makers

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actively canvasses for the discouragement of the negative tendencies acted out on the screen. And the failure by movie producers to make any strong comment against social ills is a short coming of the films that use violence in their messages. The implication is that such films rather than amelioring violent acts in the society tend to aggravate them, Folarin, [1999]. Methodology This study focuses on the devastating impact of Nollywood movies on the behavior of Nigerian youths. The population studied is the final year students of Mass Communication of Babcock University, in Ogun State. The students were 69, by which 59 were girls while 10 were boys. The qualitative and quantitative data analysis based on the empirical secondary and primary data. The data collected on both were presented in tabular form and analyzed using simple percentages. Purposive random sampling technique is employed, while questionnaire as an instrument were used during the class-meeting. Theoretical framework The nature of violence in Nigeria would attract multidimensional theoretical applications such as: Observational Learning and Imitation Behavior theory, Cultivation Analysis theory, Desensitization theory, and Aggressive Cue theory. Observational learning and imitation behavior theory Folarin, [2002] contends that both theories assume that people, especially children, tend to learn from the mass media and to model their behavior on that of the Dramatis personae. The process is similar to that by which children imitate the behavior of adults around them. Wartella, Oliverez and Jennings [1998] gave an outline of three basic theoretical models for describing the process of learning and imitation of TV violence, which include the social learning theory of Bandura [1965] that opines that children learn from media models what behavior will be rewarded and what will be punished. While, Berkowitz [1984] contends that when people view violence, it activates other related thoughts and evaluations, leading to a greater predisposition to use violence in interpersonal situations. Finally,

HuesMann’s, [1986] on his Script theory holds that scripts indicate how to respond to events control social behavior. Violence is encoded in such a way as to lead to violence as a result of aggressive scripts, and it has a negative impact on youths. Cultivation analysis theory Folarin, [2002], Cultivation Analysis theory assumes that the more time people spend watching television, the more their world views will be like those to exposed to television. Most Americans for instance live with television from childhood, so television message and images form the mainstream of a common symbolic environment, and a cultural core of the society. In a nutshell, the media constructs a reality for its audiences and so its audiences eventually adopt the symbolic violent world of the media as a reflection of their reality. Cultivation Analysis concentrates on the enduring and common consequence of growing up and living with the media, ‘an individual who is heavy with media products behaves differently from light audience who rely on other factors and influences of reality, Desensitisation theory This theory contends that people who watch a lot of violence films become less sensitive to future violence. Audiences of movies with scenes of violence, explicit sex and vulgarity eventually become insensitive to them. Initially, some things shown in the movie might shock or offend you, but the effect diminishes every time one is subjected to it again. Defluer & Dennis [1998] said that researchers in America found out that a large proportion of film audiences, especially youths [who are most times, students] are against controls based on conservative tastes and restraining cultural norms. They actively derive pleasure and excitement from movies that emphasize sexual images, violence and vulgarity. The above findings are troubling, thus necessitating a study like this for our immediate environment. Aggressive cue theory This theory assumes that exposure to violent drama increases people’s level of emotional and psychological stimulation which can in turn lead to aggressive behavior; examples include watching of war films or boxing and wrestling contexts. However, it is further believed that whether a

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person responds to the aggressive cue depend on whether he or she is experiencing frustration or irritation at the time of exposure to mass-mediated violence. And it also depends on whether the media present the violence as justified [as a means of self defense or of vengeance]. Pearson [1997] believes that constant exposure to the repeated depiction of violence in movies leads to blunt emotional reactions of the viewers. Such desensitization can lead to both hardened attitudes about violence directed at others and decreased interest in taking action on behalf of the victim of violence. Psychological, sociological, and medical researchers found out that prolonged youth exposure to television shows a positive relationship between earlier exposure to violent movie which eventually leads to physical aggression. Federal Statistics [2009] has proved and made us to understand that about five’5’ out of every twenty ‘20’ robbery arrest, and three ‘3’ of every twenty ‘20’murders, rape, aggravated assaults’ arrest are of juveniles. Therefore, research has established that there is a relationship between exposure to the media [film] and subsequent negative actions. Social responsibility theory The social responsibility theory is an outgrowth of libertarian theory of the press which advocate right to express view and to publish without let or hindrance. The social responsibility theory, however, says freedom without responsibility could lead to abuse. It therefore, calls for sense of responsibility in the performance of journalism by adhering to basic tenets of journalism such as observing public interest in news reporting and keeping to national interest. Where journalist disobeys these basic rules, he should be prosecuted by the law to make him or her learn how to do his job with sense of responsibility. This theory therefore is applicable to this paper in the sense that moviemakers and artistes would be made to do their performance with sense of responsibility. The media, or the film-producers are thus, expected to regulate themselves, though public intervention and to ensure that media responsibility is not

discouraged. Such interventions take the forms of regulatory councils; commission of enquiry, etc. Concepts analysis, definition and explanation Nollywood movies: The Nigerian video film industry is known as Nollywood movies in this context which means the video films packaged by the Nigerian Home Video Industry for home viewing or is the name attributed to Nigeria’s movie industry. They are usually in the video cassette format or the video compact disc format. Violent behavior: Violent behavior in this context has been defined as ‘a behavioral concept having to do with human conducts with specific reference to committing of various crimes such as robbery, rioting and breach of peace’ etc. He further outlines the violent materials in movies such as: Sex scenes, nudity, obscenity, vulgar language, indecent dresses, killings, murder, rape, beating up women, smoking, molestation and harassment etc. Violent: Hoijar, cited in www.nollywoo.comdescribes media content as violent if it…depicts a person or persons who consistently commit an act which kills, injures or causes another person suffering against his will, or which inflicts damage on an inanimate object etc. Further, he defines violence as the overt expression of physical force compelling action against one’s will or pain of being hurt or killed or actually hurting.

Impact: It refers to the impression or action that develops in individuals as a result of exposure to Nollywood movies. while, youths in this context is viewed in terms of all young people, both male and female who are in the period of between childhood and full adulthood, within the age of 1340 years. Violence for the average Nigerian could be in different forms and may mean different things when expressed in the typical African setting, it is seen as a sign of strength and bravery when a man stands up for himself and fights when he is either challenged or insulted. While in those days is not a necessity that either party involved in the fight dies, but recent movies tend to show that the best way to

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get rid of a rivalry is to kill him or her which is not what was portrayed in the early films movies, they only fought to show superiority and defeat or embarrassment, not death. Violence in movies has become sought of a regular on the Nigerian movies and has continued to gain more acceptances by producers and directors. Most times when they are asked about the adverse effects of these on their audiences and society they simply say that “they are portraying their messages in the easiest and most convincing manner since these stories are most times associated with real life situations”. And one of the questions that critics have failed to answer, whose job is it when youths watch movies and often times get influenced by what they have seen?, is it the parents, the regulators, producers, or the youths themselves? The National Film and Video Censor’s Board severely criticize Nigerian home video films for placing too much emphasis on occultism, violence, sex, pornography and blood, claiming that they could have adverse effect on the Nigerian society. Odukomaiya, [1980], has identified the negative aspect as: the ease with which anyone with minimal funds could purchase video cameras and portable video recorders and start producing fiction dramatic stories, which were at times of questionable content made the field a free for all. People without training in mass communication or theatre arts and even secondary school drop outs joined the bandwagon. Having acquired equipment, they opened for business in dingy shops with signboards such as ‘Video Production Center’ ‘Video Recording Studio. This development is true and has exposed the Nigerian society to media messages that are unprofessionally packaged which could result in the development of negative mannerism. Adesanya, an award-winning producer of a celluloid film contends that the story and acting more often than not are overwhelmed by the projection of glamour over substance, a gaudy visual style that robs the productions of memorable pathos and artistry – [in other words, lack of professionalism] by which the thematic moral

values and lesions are like those that constitute the hallmark of Onitsha market literature. Oite, [1990], contends the importance to know the moral structure and disposition of modern-day Nigeria. Based on his observations, he raises an alarm over a generation of Nigerians which could even be worse than the one described by Noble Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka as “Wasted Generation’. According to him, ‘There is even greater worry about contemporary and succeeding structure of the Nigerian society to compare to the next generation that is already emerging. The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey by the Federal Office of Statistics, [1992] show that 70% of Nigerians were under 30 years, including about 48% under 14 years. 70% consist of Nigerians born into a life of coup and counter coups, violence and civil war, succeeded by armed and pen robbery, operation 419, and wealth without work or with dubious discreditable path to wealth. If a large proportion of the 70% of our population do not know or live enough of their indigenous past, a life of honor, integrity, morality and work, to say the least, we are in more than triple trouble” Oite further highlights some of the moral problems that characterize the emergent generation of Nigerians: ‘That proportion of our society consists of cultural floaters, without a cultural kit to withstand the disruptive elements of a fastchanging world. That proportion is socialized in Euro-American ways, and in crises and violence, deceit and dishonesty. Many of them value education only as a means to a certificate to show for employment in the morning with the hope to become millionaire in the evening or as a means of mental equipment to be able to manipulate rules, people and institutions and become over abundantly rich within the shortest possible time. They want fantastic cars and majestic houses etc all at once. They want to build Rome only in one day! Although the society preaches moral sanctity, morally objectionable practices, including sexual abuse and promiscuity, bribery, corruption, perversion of the cause of justice, dereliction of duty, ethno religious violence, fraud, dishonesty etc. It is apparent that the verbal proclamations about the importance of ennobling moral virtues are not backed by morally upright actions. The gap

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between the pious moral proclamations and the practices that is morally wrong, which finds expression in the home videos creates a fertile ground for ignoble moral recklessness’ of the larger society. Nigeria operates a capitalist economy characterized by the pressure to maximize profits [at all cost] and minimize losses, exploitation, unbridled completion and other hallmarks of capitalist accumulation featured prominently in western capitalist development. The video producers in this economy tend to capitalize on all social factors, including moral frailties to maximize profits. Likewise, sexual innuendoes become attractive because pornography is not vocally resisted by the larger society. The things that should be considered morally reprehensible in a morally stable society are tolerated because of the oppressive and unjust social system that breeds poverty and discontent, and many other negative developments in the polity. All these are part of the current reality of Nigerian’s moral and ethical foundation, which have become part and parcel of the ethical foundations of the Nigerian video film industry. Films such as ‘Dead of the Night’ [2002], Anikukapo, [2002] Iyawo Alhaji [2001], etc are set against a background of social and physical reality. Looking into the contents of some of the films, wealth is a major propelling factor. Most of the characters desire to have immense wealth and live opulently. Films such as Abuja Connection and Dead of the Night, the actors and actresses put on expensive costumes, while, the society ladies in Abuja Connection for example, ride in limousines and talk of money in millions. They display their wealth everywhere they go through expensive clothes, rings, necklaces, bangles etc. Even their sitting rooms are opulently furnished and occupied by overdressed characters lounging around lazily. While, in Please Come Back Movie, the characters dress and act typically like robbers. They go about often with their pistols, where smoking and drinking heavily, probably explains why they don’t have mercy on their victims. This topical issue which has engaged the attention of scholars in the fields of psychology, sociology,

political science and mass communication in recent times has been how parents could help in reducing the damaging influence of violent films on the children. The current socio-economic terrain in Nigeria has made parents to become preoccupied with searching for money and other material things. This deprives the children of their parents’ company. Absence of parents from home thus paves the way for the children to acquire certain values from video films when they watch without parental guidance. Another issue that has attracted the attention of scholars and communication experts is the attempt to draw a correlation between films and violence. Since the early 1970’s researchers in the United States of America [USA] have been trying to probe and establish whether violence in films could lead to aggressive behavior, especially of children and teenagers who watch video films.In Africa, South of the Sahara, the story is the same; as people are apprehensive over the possibility of violent films engendering violence in the society, and were also of the view that there is a symbiotic relationship between societal violence and home video. Addressing a dilemma A number of regulations and strategic plans were adopted by the National Film and Video Censors Board [NFVCB] to control and refresh the system of the Nigerian Movie Industry. Some of such are:  Reduce the number of movies produced in Nigeria that depict the country as a ‘Voodoo and violent country’  Increase professional education and training in the move production industry  Counter video piracy  Encourage growth of new exhibition windows  Invite all state governments to the movie business as an important socio-economic growth factor  Create a thriving environment for producers and makers of movies to exhibit their talents. The NFVCB posed a strategic shift of mind set to new movie themes and professional best practices to curtail release and distribution of ‘offensive; movies through improved coordination and monitoring mechanisms and effective mobilization

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of all stakeholders brought about two movies that sell the image of Nigeria [tourism and the Nigerian pride] in 2006 The NFVCB also came up with warnings about films and their restrictions to their audience; if it is a family or 18 +film, let it be stated. Seven classifications of content restriction in Nigeria:  The ‘G’ which is for general viewing. Children can watch this because it is safe for the general audience.  The 12 Rated; any child between the ages of 0 and 12 can view such movies  The 12A; for children below the age of 12, but they have to view such movies with an adult.  PG; Parental Guidance. This content requires the presence of a parent  16; not for persons under the age of 16.  18; not for persons under the age of 18  R18; such movies have nudity, sex, violence and strong language. NFVCB [2000:], as a result imposed a ban on many films such as; ‘I hate my village 1’ for promoting cannibalism and failing to uphold Nigeria’s cultural values. Shattered Home’, Outcast 1 &2’, ‘Night Out’ [Girls for Sale], “Omo Empire’, ‘Isakaba 4’, “Terrorist Attack’ and ‘Unseen Forces’ due to lawlessness and upholding of immorality and cannibalism by the producers which they say is frowning the industry. The general impact of this on the society is that a youth’s behavior is being nurtured around these negative growth elements if not tutored properly. The impact of these restrictions has made many Nollywood movies have themes that deal with the moral dilemmas facing modern Africans. some movies promote the Christian or Islamic faiths, and some movies are overtly evangelical, AIDS, corruption, women’s rights, witchcraft, while others address questions of religious diversity such as the popular film; Not Without My Daughter’, about a Muslim man and a Christian woman who wanted to get married, but went through many obstacles in the film.

Evidence of relationship between the ‘symbiotic media violent world’ and ‘world of reality’ A Clockwork Orange film, Directed by Stanley Kubrick [1971], caused controversy on its release due to the violent content. Alex, the main character rapes women and beats up beggars. The film tells the story through Alex’s eyes; he is represented as a hero; while the caricature people who surround him seem less attractive by comparison. The controversy about the film increased when some gangs and youths started to copycat the violence and rape. The media focused heavily on these cases of copy -cat violence, and even, Kubrick himself started regretting been the director of the film. He became to re-censor the film in England to avoid further violence in the society when death cut short of him in [1999]. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. The President survived and Hinckley was arrested. Hinckley claimed to have committed his crime to impress actress Jodie Foster, like he had seen in the movie Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese. In 1999 two boys shot several students to death in Columbine High School in Colorado, afterwards they committed suicide, accusations were made that they were influenced by violent videogames, films and on. These experimental studies have established and authenticated the subject matter of this work, that actually there is relationship between the symbolic violent world of the media or films as a reflection of their reality. Analysis of data/ discussion of findings The interpretation and discussion of data gotten from the empirical secondary and primary data were to give intended audience and future researcher modus operandi of arriving at results and making generalizations.

Table 1-Respondents view- whether Nollywood movies affect in any way? Options Frequency Percentage Yes 62 90% No 7 10%

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The table above indicates that 62 respondents representing 90 percent did agree that they were affected by Nollywood movies, while 7 respondents representing 10 percent were in different. The table approves that Nollywood movies affects majority of its viewers. Table 2- Respondents view on whether Nollywood movies effects have been positive or negative? Options Frequency Percentage Positive 25 36% Negative 44 67% None 0 00.00% Total 69 100% The table indicates that 25 respondents representing 36 percent accepted that Nigerian movies affect them positively. 44 respondents representing 44 percent were affected negatively. The table approves that majority of the viewers were affected negatively

Options Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don’t Know

Frequency 30 32 4 3 0 69

Percentage 43% 46% 6% 4% 00.00% 100%

The table indicates that 62 respondents, representing 89 percent were of the opinion that consistent exposures to violent films affect behaviors, while 7 respondents, representing 10 percent were not affected by the violent movies. Table approves that truly violent films affect behaviors. Statistics of crimes committed by Nigerian youth Sources: Annual abstract of statistics, FOC, Abuja, 2009. page180

Table 3- Respondents view on whether consistent exposures to violent films or movies affect behaviour? Offences 2005 Assault 591 Murder 760 Armed robbery 1,020 Sex offences 999 Robbery 2250 Sedition 462 Stealing 20892 Affray 451 Debt 942 Treason 112 Abduction 182 Traffic offences 142 Indian hemp offences 949 Unlawful possession 1147 Forgery and altering 440 Escaping from lawful custody 290 Offences against native law 764 Other offences 2091 The table above reveals a growing number of youth’s involvement in violent crimes [Nigerian prisons 2005 and 2009]. One of impacts of Nollywood on the Nigerian youths is the exposure of various violent crimes scenes and strategies in

2009 947 14,262 685 2194 5972 195 97140 727 2921 516 97 725 281 10190 710 521 96 5125 diverse ways. The youths being what they are, looking out for flashy things, exercise of power, quick riches etc, so a forum is created [Nollywood movies] in indoctrinating and or a training ground for these youths. The table approves that much

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exposure to violent films or crimes tend to affect the youth behaviors. Convicted Prisoners Classified by Age Group Age Male Female Total % Group Lower 1,872 258 2130 1.33 than 18 18-20 8,115 1,114 9,229 5.77 years 20-30 53,105 10,986 64,091 40.09 years 30-40 38,718 10,830 49,548 30.99 years 40-50 20,046 6,528 26,574 16.62 years 50-60 4,559 1,689 6,248 3.91 years Over 1,471 596 2,067 1.29 60 years Total 127,886 32,001 159,887 100 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey by the Federal Office of Statistics, [1992]: show that 70% of Nigerians were under 30 years, including about 48% under 14 years. The above table approves that crime rate is at peak at the age bracket between 2030years. The age bracket constitutes Nigerian Youths and their involvement in violent crimes is significant as indicated by the above table has authenticated the subject matter of this study. Conclusion Nigerian Home movie producers have failed to make any strong comment against social ills in our society, instead use them in their messages without realizing that arts can be viewed as having therapeutic effect that can both mirror and heal the society of its perceived ills. One question that critics have failed to answer is that, whose job is it when youths watch movies and often times get influenced by what they have seen?, is it the parents!, the regulators!, or the youths themselves?. 



realize that the ennobling virtues which the society covets should find expression in their video productions. Parents should however pay attention to the kinds of movies their wards are exposed to in order to prevent them from ending up in jail at the long run. The Media need to be really careful when packaging a message, since it affects those that are exposed to it

Reference: Akpabio, E. [2003], “Themes and Conflict of Nigerian Home Video Movies” in Unilaag Personality and social Psychology,Vol.4 No 1pp 589-595 Andy, [Menech, [Producer/Director], Ebube, Land of Tears. [2001],

Ayantayo, K.J. [1999], “The Challenges of African Social Ethics in Cultural Contexts” in Ife, E., [ed], Coping with Culture. Ibadan: Opoturu Books Federal Office of Statistics, [2009]: Annual Abstract of Statistics Abuja, Nigeria Ezeanyaeche, [Producer], 2003] Abuja Connection Onistsha: O. Onistsha: 2002, Falola, TOYIN, [1999], “The History of Modern Nigeria” Cited in www.nollywood.com Folarin, B. [2001], [2001], “;Theories Communication an introduction”, New York: Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Companies. of

Kosoko, J. [Producer/Director], [2001], fyawa Alhaji, Lagos: Dudu Films.Ojiodfor Osuagwu, E.D., [Executive Producer] 2002], Dead of the Night Scott, A. [2008] “Public Relations. “Microsoft@Student DVD Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. Turtoe-Sanders, Patience, [1998], Tradition in Marriage: An Insider’s Perspective”.www.nollywood.com “African

Recommendations  The producers’ of video films should know that they owe the larger society a duty to promote the greater good of the society, and should

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