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Over the past year, the Kano State Film and Video Censorship Board has emerged as one of the most assertive sub‑national cultural regulators in West Africa, launching high‑profile bans that cut across film, television, music and live performance. In May 2025 the Board ordered the suspension of 22 hugely popular Hausa‑language drama series, including household titles such as Labarina, Dadin Kowa, Dakin Amarya, Gidan Sarauta and Manyan Mata, instructing television channels and streaming platforms to halt all airing and online distribution until the works were resubmitted for approval.

A new wave of bans
Earlier in the year, it banned leading Kannywood singer Usman “Sojaboy” and actresses Shamsiyya Muhammad and Hasina Suzan from participating in artistic activities in Kano, citing a video said to contravene “religious and cultural values,” and it suspended actress Samha Inuwa for one year over “indecent dressing,” revoking her licence and declaring that films featuring her would no longer be censored in the state.

Kano, Kannywood and the Board’s mandate
Kano is the commercial and religious hub of northern Nigeria, at the heart of the Hausa‑language film industry known as Kannywood, which serves tens of millions of Hausa speakers across West and Central Africa. Since the adoption of Sharia‑influenced policies in the early 2000s, the state has built a formal censorship apparatus that fuses morality politics with cultural regulation. Under its enabling law, the Kano State Film and Video Censorship Board claims authority to censor all films intended for production, marketing, streaming or broadcasting in the state and to regulate “all related stakeholders” whose work targets Kano audiences. A 2025 amendment tightened this regime by bringing event centres under the Board’s control, requiring entertainment venues and organisers to comply with “religion, culture, norms and values” as defined by state authorities.

Clash with national broadcasting law
This state‑level activism sits uneasily beside Nigeria’s national framework for regulating media. Under the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act, licensing and content regulation for radio, television, satellite and cable broadcasting are placed exclusively in the hands of the federal NBC, not state governments. When the Kano Board suspended the 22 series, it called on television stations and on the NBC to “support” its decision, effectively seeking federal reinforcement for a state ban. The Nigerian Bar Association publicly pushed back, stressing that “no state government has the legal competence to regulate or censor broadcast content,” and warning that Kano’s new media rules risk violating both the Constitution’s free‑expression guarantees and NBC’s statutory mandate. This tug‑of‑war highlights a structural problem: state censors can make sweeping pronouncements, but turning them into de facto national blacklists depends on whether broadcasters and federal regulators fall in line.

Extending control beyond screens
In 2025 the Board also moved decisively against other art forms and cultural spaces. In January, officials barred Sojaboy and the two actresses from Kannywood work in Kano, using their appearance in a music video and associated social‑media content to justify sanctions for “misconduct” and “immorality.” At least one top actress, Samha Inuwa, was suspended purely on the basis of clothing choices the Board described as indecent, after receiving public complaints. Beyond individual artists, the Board revoked licences and ordered the closure of eight “gala” entertainment centres in May 2025, accusing them of late‑night shows, “vulgar content” and operating without proper approval. Community‑based cultural events such as “Kauyawa Day” celebrations have also been suspended at event centres, in the name of safeguarding morality. Separate decisions targeted Islamic singers’ debates and praise‑singer contests, banning unapproved events and summoning high‑profile performers and moderators for questioning.

Impact on artists and public reactions
For artists, these interventions translate into economic loss, reputational damage and heightened fear of falling foul of shifting red lines. Producers of the suspended series lose broadcast and streaming income; performers risk blacklisting if their personal lives, clothing or online presence are deemed offensive; venue owners face closure and potential prosecution. The result is a thick layer of self‑censorship, where filmmakers trim romance and social critique, musicians avoid controversial lyrics or aesthetics, and organisers strip events of experimentation to avoid scrutiny. Public reaction is mixed: conservative constituencies and some religious leaders welcome the Board as a guardian of Islamic and cultural norms, while fans lament the disappearance of beloved series and nightlife options, and legal advocates frame Kano’s policy as an unlawful attempt to “gag free speech.” In this contested space, Kano has become a key laboratory for understanding how state‑level censorship structures can reshape artistic freedom and media regulation in contemporary Nigeria.

In northern Nigeria, the Kano State Film and Video Censorship Board has spent the past year reshaping the cultural landscape.

It suspended 22 popular Hausa‑language TV dramas like Labarina and Dadin Kowa, banned singer Usman “Sojaboy” and actresses over “immorality,” closed eight entertainment centres, and restricted Islamic singers’ debates.

These state‑level bans now collide with Nigeria’s federal broadcasting framework, raising big questions about who controls what audiences see and hear, and what space remains for dissenting or simply modern artistic voices.

Read our latest Mimeta Memos analysis on Kano’s censorship regime and its impact on artists and communities.

#ArtisticFreedom #Censorship #Nigeria #Kano #Kannywood #HumanRights #MediaFreedom #CulturalPolicy #ArtistsAtRisk #FreedomOfExpression

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