Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed, has come up with a ‘bright’ idea; his own light bulb moment, if you would.
And it goes something like this: produce music videos at home and the faltering Nigerian economy would have been given a shot in the arm.
“This government has agreed that henceforth, whatever we consume in Nigeria in terms of music and films, must be made in Nigeria”, Mohammed said during a visit to the headquarters of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) in Lagos over the weekend.
The minister added that: “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.
“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.
“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 promised.
Coming from the same minister who recently frowned at why Big Brother Naija was being shot in South Africa instead of his beloved Nigeria, that was really some statement.
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