'FG to stop production of Nigerian movies, music abroad' -Alhaji Lai Mohammed

"The Federal Government of Nigeria says it has taken steps to amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to discourage the production of Nigerian movies and music outside the shore of the country."--Pulse.ng

Davido: Capture from Youtube

The revelation was made when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed paid a visit to the headquarters of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) in Lagos, on Saturday.

Mohammed condemned the recording of Nigerian movies, "reality TV shows, and music outside Nigeria, for consumption by Nigerians". This problem, he said had rubbed off negatively on the "empowerment of practitioners in the industry, the development of the sector and the nation’s economy in general".

In his own words, Lai Mohammed 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,” he said.

The Minister pointed out that what is happening today is that most times Nigerian artists were often flown out of the country for movie productions.......

Mista Mohammed continued by saying, “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”.

He stressed that “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.

To encourage the production of movies and Nigerian music within the country, the Minister said that Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission had put forward a proposal to classify the Creative Industry and grant it a pioneer status.

He added that with the pioneer status, the industry would be entitled to certain incentives and tax alleviations. "There would also be waivers for shipment of imported music and films production equipment", he mentioned

Mohammed said that as one of the key areas for diversification of the economy, the creative industry would be private sector-driven, while the government would create the enabling environment for its growth. The federal government is committed to making the creative industry viable, dynamic and sustainable, he added.--Pulse.ng

good job mista mohammed!

Here's My Take on this:

This is a very good move by the federal government of Nigeria. The shooting of Nigerian movies and music abroad may have been one of the factors that influence the high prices of the movies and music within the country. So shooting of the videos in Nigeria will for sure support our struggling economy and provide jobs for Nigerians, I agree. 

That being said, the question now is this. if the producers are forced by the FG to shoot their movies within Nigeria, what is the government doing to stop the bullying of this Creative industry by the omoniles. What about the safety of the actors and actresses during the production of these movies or while on set.

Secondly, when are those in government going to end the looting and shipping of Nigerian money abroad. I believe that if the politicians and those in public offices would stop looting the country and stop building mansions abroad, Nigerian economy would boom like that of other countries in the world.

Leadership they say, is by example. let those in authority initiate patriotism then those in the lower level of the ladder can learn from them and support the economy as well.

So Mr. Lai. Your words are very sweet but it was not given on the wrong floor. The speech belongs to the senate and the house of reps, governors and other Nigerian politicians of all levels. They need to patronize our country too.