Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the Federal
government is planning to stop entertainers from shooting movies
and music videos outside Nigeria.
According to the Minister, conducting
shoots outside Nigeria does not help grow our economy but rather, it
helps grow that of the country where such shoots are being done. Lai
disclosed this when he paid a visit to the headquarters of the
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) today July 15th.
“This government has agreed that henceforth, whatever we consume in
Nigeria in terms of music and films, must be made in Nigeria. We cannot
continue to go to South Africa or any other country to produce our films
and then send them back to be consumed in Nigeria. The Broadcasting
Code and the Advertising Code are very clear on this. For you to
classify a product as a Nigerian product, it must have a certain
percentage of Nigerian content”.
According to Lai, Nigerian entertainers patronise the economy of
other countries whenever they go outside Nigeria to shoot their videos
“When they get there, they will patronise the economy of that country
and then bring the products back to Nigeria for us to consume. It is
like somebody going to China or Japan to make a product that looks like
palm wine and bring it back home to label it Nigerian palm wine. As long
as we are not able to implement our own code to ensure local production
of Nigerian music and movies, our young talents will not get jobs. It
is Nigerians that pay for the consumption of these products and
therefore they must be allowed and encouraged to participate in their
production. I am going to meet with the relevant stakeholders over this,
to see that whatever amendment that is needed to be made to our
Broadcasting Code in this regard, is done urgently,” he said
How hilarious is this though? When you don’t provide a condusive
environment for people to conduct their business and you’re talking
about stopping them from going to places where they can get better
services? Pls