NIGERIAN STATE WANTS FILM BAN AFTER SEX SCANDAL

LAGOS (Reuters) - The government of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim state of Kano has called for a one-year ban on local film-making to "sanitise" the industry after a sex video of a local actress circulated widely on mobile phones.

The eight-minute clip, recorded for private use by the actress's boyfriend on a mobile phone and showing the two of them naked, caused a public outcry among conservative Muslims in northern Nigeria.

The state's Filmmakers Association expelled 17 of its members for suspected involvement in "immoral acts such as drunkenness and fornication", even though they were not connected to the clip.

The actress in question has gone into hiding.

But the state's Directorate of Societal Orientation said the expulsions were not enough to clean up the industry.

Shooting of films in the local Hausa language should be suspended for a year, the directorate's Bala Muhammad was quoted as saying on the state-run News Agency of Nigeria.

Nigeria's hugely successful English-language video industry, known as Nollywood, is mostly based in the south of the country which is predominantly Christian and considered less conservative.

In the past few years a Hausa-language home video industry has sprung up in the north and has also become very popular.

Kano is among 12 northern states that started enforcing Islamic Sharia law in 2000, increasing tensions between the Muslim majority and sizeable Christian minorities all over northern Nigeria. Thousands have died in several bouts of sectarian violence since then.