October 5, (THEWILL) – The National Council for Art and Culture, NCAC, has asked the House of Representatives to give it a legal framework to go after the organisers of the Big Brother Naija reality show over nudity in the programme.
The council is also seeking powers to arrest and prosecute crossdressers in the country.
The Director General of the council, Segun Runsewe, made the call on Tuesday, during an investigative hearing by an ad hoc committee of the House.
The committee is charged with investigating the duplication of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Runsewe is making this call against the backdrop of the fact that a bill already exists in the House seeking to amend the Same-Sex (Prohibition) Act to prohibit cross-dressing in Nigeria.
The amendment, sponsored by Muda Umar (APC, Bauchi), seeks to amend sections 4 and 5 of the principal act.
The bill proposes that “A person engaging in cross-dressing is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment of six months or a fine of five hundred thousand naira.”
Runsewe has been very vocal against popular Nigerian cross-dresser, Okuneye Olanrewaju, known as Bobrisky. He said he had previously raised the issue of nudity in BBNaija to the organisers.
“I am the first person who took Big Brother Nigeria to the NBC, to report them because they were having…I took it up and Big Brother (organisers) tried to reach me and I told them that if the culture in other parts of the world is to be naked – nudity, etc they should not bring it to Nigeria because our culture is rich and it respects the integrity of our country”, he said.
Runsewe said if the lawmakers would give the council the needed power through the legislative framework, the issues will be addressed.
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