Minister of Information and Culture, Lia
Mohammed, has shed more light on plans by
the Federl government to stop entertainers
and movie makers from shooting their jobs
outside the shores of Nigeria.
Last Saturday, Lai Mohammed disclosed this
plan when he spoke at the Copyright Society
of Nigeria (COSON) House in Lagos.
In a recent chat with Premiumtimes, Lai
Mohammed said the proposed ban would help
tackle the exploitation of perceived loopholes
in the Nigerian Broadcasting Code, NBC.
"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."he said
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