Popular Nollywood actor, Fidelis Duker, in a recent interview noted that the Nigerian movie industry is not responsible for the recent upsurge in ritual killings in the country.
There had been claims that young Nigerians learnt the act from movies that project ritual scenes.
The latest incident was the case of four teenagers in Ogun who beheaded a girl identified as Sofiat for money ritual.
Duker, who is also the Executive Director of the Abuja International Film Festival, in an interview with Saturday Beats said the young Nigerians involved in ritual don’t watch those kinds of films
He further stated, “I think to a large extent, I differ. In recent times, the generation of Nigerians involved in ritual killings is within the age bracket of 17and 26.
“Most of them did not watch those kinds of films. Most of the ritual films were produced about 10 and 15 years ago. What I am saying in essence is that Nollywood films cannot be blamed for the increase in ritual killings in the country. In films, even those who engaged in ritual killings usually ended up paying the price for it.
“In a recent Facebook post, I said one of the causes is that we have lost our moral values.
“A child of 17 years old would bring a new car home and the mother would be celebrating it. What work has he done at 17? A girl in year one in a tertiary institution would be using an iPhone of about N500,000, and one begins to wonder where she got the money from? Those are the issues we should look at. We should not look for an escape route and blame Nollywood films (for all these ills).”
