The former Lagos State governor and current Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has revealed that Nollywood movies are promoting money rituals and encouraging kidnapping in Nigeria.
He disclosed this during the guest speaker at the fourth annual public lecture/symposium organised by the United Action for Change, themed, ‘Security of citizens as a social contract’.
The former governor said that belief system, reinforced through Nollywood movies, could be fuelling kidnapping, given the number of persons the police have arrested with human skulls and other body parts, with the motive of money ritual.
He asked the moviemakers to stop telling such stories, because, according to him, money ritual is a myth.
He said one of the common themes in Nollywood is money rituals. While such stories could be entertaining, especially with the mystical manipulations embedded in them.
The Minister, who titled his lecture, ‘Insecurity: Taking actions against organised crime’, however, said it was high time moviemakers and policymakers changed the narrative, to save innocent lives from being wasted.
Fashola said, “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
“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.
“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 also faulted the fears that engulfed the populace last year when there were reports that cyber fraudsters were stealing women’s briefs to make money.
Fashola said, “It is not true, or how does that happen? What is the connection between paper (money) and cotton (pants) or has anybody seen cotton money before? Those of us who have influence and authority must take positions to see to the reversal of this kind of beliefs.”
Newsflash247 online news portal
