Lai Mohammed Speaks on Why FG Plans to Stop Entertainers from Shooting Movie and Music Video Production Abroad

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has clarified the reason why the Federal government plans to stop entertainers and movie makers from shooting movie and music videos outside Nigeria.

On Saturday last week, Lai Mohammed disclosed this plan when he spoke at the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) House in Lagos.

In a recent interview with Premium times, Lai Mohammed disclosed that the proposed ban would help tackle the exploitation of perceived loopholes in the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (NBC).

He said;

“The NBC code today as it stands has been exploited and not defined and that’s why movies being directed by Nigerians with Nigerian actors, actresses can be shot in South Africa and then brought back to be consumed in Nigeria. All we are saying is that we are going to amend the code in a manner that it will not be possible for you to exploit any loophole there to go and shoot outside Nigeria film, music or programs that are meant to be consumed in Nigeria”.

Speaking further, he said “It is not directed at any particular incident, every country should respect the local industry of other countries. For example, in Ghana they introduced a law today that demands visiting actors to pay a thousand dollars to the government coffers while visiting directors and producers pay 5,000 dollars. We must create an enabling environment and also generate revenue from our creative industry. The argument is simple, when you go to shoot a film offshore, you use the work force of that country to develop the capacity of that country and you improve the economy of that country and that is what we are trying to do here.”