Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has alleged that Nollywood movies encourage crime such as money ritual and kidnap.
He spoke during the week as a guest speaker at the fourth annual public lecture/symposium organised by the United Action for Change.
The former Lagos State governor said at the symposium themed ‘Security of citizens as a social contract’ that Nollywood movies add to the narrative that such quick means to wealth come with some advantages.
“Some people believe that if you get a man’s head or a woman’s body parts, they could be turned into money. It’s not true! And when you ask people who believe in it if they have seen it happen before, they tell you someone said they had seen it,” he said.
“However, it has become a reinforced belief through entertainment, social media and Nollywood. How can human head bring money? Money is paper invented by man, not God. They put the paper in a machine to print what we call money and that is the only place money comes from.
“But the challenge is the belief system. Just think about how many people have been missing – through kidnapping – because some people believe that it exists. The police could tell us the number of people they have apprehended with human parts, such as skulls. This belief system must go.”
Fashola, in his lecture titled ‘Insecurity: Taking actions against organised crime’, encouraged the industry’s players to change the narrative.
“Therefore, all of us, including those who make the films, must reverse the story and start selling a new story that money is printed in a machine and not through any other way like money rituals,” he said.
Fashola also faulted the fears that greeted the public in 2019 when there were frequent reports about cyber fraudsters stealing women’s underwear for money ritual.
