Following widespread reactions from stakeholders in the entertainment industry in the country, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has clarified his statement on reported plan by the Federal Government to ban production of movies and musics meant for consumption in the country Abroad.
The Minister spoke at the end of a two-day Creative Industry Financing Conference with the theme ' Financing the Film, Television and Music Industries " held in Lagos state. He maintained that the Federal Government has no plans to infringe on the rights of entertainers in the country as widely reported in the social media.
"At COSON, I said that I would work to amend the National Broadcasting Commission’s code to ensure that if a product is designated a Nigerian product, it must be produced in Nigeria. I didn’t say that, henceforth, all music and films would or must be produced in Nigeria."
“All I said was that if a programme is designated as a Nigerian content programme, we will amend the code to ensure that it is produced in Nigeria. I didn’t say I’ll ban the production of Nigerian movies and videos overseas.”
A source at the Ministry told Vigil360 that the Minister's statement was actually a clear response to Nigerians who had condemned the shooting of the last reality show, Big Brother Naija from South Africa. He explained that the move was to enable the sector create wealth by engaging unemployed youths as well as project the nation's tourism potential.
