The Lagos State Film and Videos Censors Board (LSFVCB) has on Tuesday apprehended 30 sellers of pirated films in a clampdown in Lagos. Mr. Dele Balogun, the Executive Secretary of the board made this known in a statement saying the arrest was in collaboration with security agencies, after a week-long raid on pirated film outlets across eight local government areas in the state.
The ES explained that exercise which took place between Dec. 3 and 10 raided Alimosho, Surulere, Mushin, Kosofe, Agege, Oshodi-Isolo, Lagos Island and Ikorodu council areas.
The Association of Movie Content Owners and Producers had complained to the state government to assist it in curbing the menace of piracy to save the movie industry.
During the raid, pirated films, unclassified films, pornographic materials, and film production equipments were seized from suspected movie practitioners who were operating without the board's approval.
He said the raid was part of efforts to curb the state of pirated and unclassified films as well as ensure that producers of movies comply with laid down rules of the regulatory body.
"The reality is that some people invested in producing films but in most cases, they don’t break even as a result of intellectual property theft," Mr. Balogun said.
"We are concerned as a government that this is happening at all. The state government is doing this for the sake of legitimate movie producers. ”
The essence of our intervention is to protect movie producers and even children against such contents,” he added.
(NAN)
