National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) has called on movie producers in Nigeria to emphasise the use of indigenous dresses for actors and actresses during film productions.
Executive Secretary/CEO of NICO, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, who made the call, said this would represent the nation’s culture and way of life as well as give the nation a positive cultural identity. This was contained in a statement from the Press Unit of the Institute and made available to newsmen in Abuja.
According to him, while movies serve as a channel for young people to choose role models from actors and actresses, they also remain very potent instruments of behavior modification and therefore a veritable tool for value reorientation of the citizenry.
Otunba further stressed the need for Nigerians to uphold the nation’s cultural values towards promoting and building a cultural identity, saying “If we must achieve such, our dressings must be the starting point”.
“There is need for us to build a cultural identity for Nigeria and in doing so, we must start from our dressings and once that is done, we can be rest assured that we are on the pathway of creating a national identity that will distinguish us as a people.
“I am calling on all movie producers in Nigeria to incorporate a substantive content of our dress culture while producing films and make cultural dressing as a dress code for people coming for movie premiers as a way of promoting our culture,” he said.
The NICO Boss maintained that Nigeria needs positive global attention and that if the indigenous dresses are showcased and given priority attention in the conduct and content of our movies, it will go a long way to heighten our international cultural diplomacy objectives.
In the same vein, the Institute had earlier called on the Management of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), which is the federal government’s regulator for films and other video works to ensure the inclusion of at least 20 percent of cultural content in all films produced in the country.
