by 
Abuja, 1st October 2020
On this special day of Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary, I am most excited to celebrate the attainment of Nigeria’s Diamond jubilee with my compatriots and congratulate His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is truly an epochal period in the annals of our history, that despite our challenges over the years, we have made significant leap from where we used to be in the past. We have survived by our shear tenacity and resolve to advance as one indivisible entity bounded by love and patriotism.
This year’s celebration elevates and amplifies the beauty of our diversity and reverberates the need for us to continue to support our growth trajectory pivoted on our togetherness. Mr President has expressed renewed commitment to this cause and we are resolved to pursue this through the entertainment and creative industry.
At the National Film and Video Censors Board, our both visible and invisible supervisory role in curating content to reflect our shared values of togetherness and harmony makes us a strong driver for unity and progress in Nigeria. Our mandate of combating piracy, supervising content and enhancing the integrity of the output of the exceptional talent across Nigeria cannot go without mention. To this end, we launched a special book, a compendium celebrating 60 trailblazing icons in the Nigerian film and video industry that have transformed the landscape of filmmaking in Nigeria. These icons, and many other players in the film industry, showcased their unique talents, scaled new heights, and propagated positive values of unity and solidarity through films.
The compendium titled, “60 Icons that Have Shaped the Nigeria Film and Video Industry” is filled with insights on Nigeria’s journey in the film & video industry, by showcasing icons, cutting across industry value chain, ethnic affiliations and religion; the book will remind its audience of our great heritage in the Film and Video Industry, and will foster a sense of community and solidarity. The Compendium also highlights notable progress in the journey of Nigeria’s film and video industry in fostering unity and solidarity pivoted on the regulatory interventions of NFVCB. Filmmakers are moulders and films and videos empower us to bring stories to life, and positively shape how they are perceived by the audience. Film & Video is indeed the warp and weft of Nigeria’s national integration. We therefore, enjoin filmmakers to continue to use this tool to appropriately shape our society as one with the most revered values. With ravaging ubiquitous stories that mirror our society as one with history of embedded crime, criminality, inequality, ethnic and tribal disunity, economic woes, religious intolerance, and everything in between, through films and video, we are blessed with the benefit to impact positive change, alter the narrative and promote our blessings and opportunities.
This project is, however, without bias or prejudice to the huge and immeasurable contributions and dedication of other industry stalwarts, who could not be mentioned due to constraint of space. Many have truly driven the cause by propagating values of national unity and compassion. Mr President recognized this is his earlier address, stating that the “the creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Nigerians at home have resulted in globally recognized endeavours.”
Despite the challenges clogging the wheels of progress of the nation, we are optimistic that the nation will experience another level of metamorphic leadership, catalytic interventions and efficiency. At NFVCB, we are bound by our commitment to revitalize the film industry as a non-oil remedy to the country’s economic challenges, as well as, enable good representations of the good moral values and rich culture of the good people of Nigeria locally and internationally.
Let’s celebrate our 60th Independence Anniversary with love, strength, and faith!
TOGETHER we can win!!
Long live Nigeria, one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity!!!
Alhaji Adedayo Thomas
Executive Director/CEO
National Film and Video Censors Board
NigeriaAt60
60Together
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