Gone are the days when Africa’s number one movie giant – Nollywood used to be people’s love. Gone are the days when movie audience look up to Nollywood movies as models for moral decency in the country and beyond. The Moral standard in Nollywood has largely fallen due to the proliferation of highly indecent movies by the industry in recent times.

Before now, the Nigerian home video used to have a culture of decency in putting across its message to the society. Its actors were never nude-crazy as we find in the up and coming actors these days. It is not out of place to say that this weird desire to appear almost nude in most movies stems from the desire of actors to impress fans instead of express themselves. These actors have this erroneous idea that turning our movies into near pornography catapults them to fame in the industry. Little wonnder, every young girl with a voluptuous body thinks only about how to go into the movies in order to make quick money. This makes them fall for the antics of the producers who sometimes ask to sleep with them before giving them roles.

The moral decadence in Nollywood can be reliably blamed on the producers who have made money instead of the message the essence of movies. This is why they parade actors who go about interpreting scripts almost in nudity.

The craze for nudity in Nollywood seems to have deepened due to the high per centage of immoral movies proliferated by the Ghananaian movie industry- Gollywood. It is obvious that Nollywood producers largely feel intimidated by Gollywood producers whose morally indecent movies seem to be making waves in the entertainment market. This is why local producers have jumped on the bandwagon thereby negatively influencing countless youths.

Nollywood producers, directors and actors lost the vision which Kenneth Nnebue (the producer of one of Nollywood’s premier movies, “Living In Bondage”) had in mind. The vision was to make better society of us by teaching life’s lessons and exposing the ills of the society. It is discouraging that instead of learning lessons from movies one ends up having one’s moral reservoir emptied. Too bad!

What people watch influences them. This is why we cannot nail Nigerian young men who easily imitate Jim Iyke’s movie dress sense and hairs, neither can we hail Nigerian movie who continually watch Nollywood screen divas such as Ini Edo, Mercy Johnson etc. repeatedly expose their tempting voluptuous breasts and curved hips. The hard truth is that most Nollywood movies such as “The Grand Player,” “Player No 1,” “Pleasure and Crime” etc are near pornographic movies and teaches little or nothing.

Interestingly, the moral lag in Nollywood has far-reaching effects on the society. Specifically, in the family. People no longer see any sense in dressing properly. What family members put on in the name of in-door clothes popularly called “house clothes”  is massively revealing of sensitive body parts. This phony fashion sense which is now common  place in the home makes them loose their respect for the women’s body due to excessive exposure. It is very rife in Nigerian homes to find the man of the house, who doubles as the husband and father often bare-chested, tying wrapper on the waist or putting on their rather revealing boxers. What about the women? They are basically not left out here. What wives and daughters of the home put on these days as house clothes terribly exposes their sumptuous bodies thereby reducing their pride as women. Even at the workplace, the immoral influence people get from the Nollywood movies makes a lot of people especially the womenfolk dress so indecently. Most women now go after corporate fashion which at least expose their breasts.

Our campuses are not spared either from the morale. In the campuses we find young girls (students) put on clothes that are either too tight-fitted with emphasis on their hips or laying their breasts. No wonder, they easily fall into the waiting hands of immoral lecturers. What a pity!

Regrettably, our churches have also been turned into a warehouse accommodating indecent dressings. People do not take long to replicate the near-nude dress sense of Nollywood actors which has found its way into the church, after all many pastors preach “dress hot for Jesus” in numerous churches.

The consequence of immorality in Nollywood is innumerable. The increased rate of immorality among youths is caused by the incessant pornographic scenes  in Nollywood movies. Imagine what happens  in the mind of an aroused young man after he has watched these loose Nollywood actresses expose irresistible parts of their bodies. The answer is simple, he hastily scouts for any girl close by to sleep with or possibly rape.

It cannot be argued that these practices have made our youths vulnerable and poor copy cats. Perharps that is why rape cases have gone up and men are constantly enticed even in public vehicles where young women expose their buttocks in the name of fashion. These resultant effects cannot be overlooked because what the women delight in flaunting. The men are bold to posses either forcibly or surreptitiously.

Nollywood producers must learn to cultivate some sense of moral decency in the way actors dress and interpret sex roles. Since the youths look up to Nollywood actors as models, they should put up some sense of moral decency. Pornographic scenes must be expunged from the Nollywood.

The question here is, what moral values do we teach our children if moral bankruptcy continues in Nollywood?

Chinda is an intern with The Tide.

Mary O. Chinda