Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, issued the directive on Monday.
A string of confessions by several money ritual suspects that they learned the evil deed via social media has prompted the government’s frantic attempt to monitor materials on social platforms, according to the Minister, who spoke in Abuja on Monday.
Many individuals have also accused Nollywood of including money ritual in some of its films, claiming that this has badly impacted the vulnerable youth, according to Mohammed.
“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,” the Minister noted.
He added: “I have also directed NFVCB to engage with stakeholders in the film industry to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.”
Mohammed stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari-led government won’t back out from seeing that the Internet space is scrutinized to ensure the positive use of social media.
Earlier, Mohammed said, “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 flip to our campaign to rid social media of unwholesome content.”
The minister urged religious, traditional, and political authorities to join efforts to reorient youths so that they understand that achievement comes from hard work rather than money rituals.
