The Federal Government has taken steps to amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to discourage the production of Nigerian movies and music outside the shore of the country but the question is, Is it a wise decision?
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.
He said:
“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.
Quoting him below, he said;
“When they get there, they will patronize 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,”
I wonder how Movie producers and musicians especially popular ones would react to this. This declaration would definitely cause some commotion. But left for me, the Federal government shouldn't decide where they shoot their musicals or movies because they alone can decide what is best for their profession, after all they still pay their dues one way or the other.
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