Nigeria plans to ban artists from shooting videos abroad

The possibility of the ban was made public by Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed on Saturday at the offices of the Copyright Society of Nigeria. He said the current situation affects the economy negatively.

“This government has agreed that henceforth, whatever we consume in Nigeria in terms of music and films, must be made in Nigeria,” Mohammed said. “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.”

The action is a response to the abundance of videos by Nigerian acts shot abroad. Recent videos shot outside of the country include Falz’s Jeje which was shot in Ghana, Wande Coal’s Iskaba was shot in South Africa and the United States served as setting for Olamide’s Summer Body.

Responding to the news, Jude Okoye, who has directed several videos by his twin brothers P-Square, said: “An industry they NEVER encouraged, supported or empowered is what they now want to control. Let all of you stop going abroad when you are sick as it is Nigerian money you people use to patronise foreign hospitals.

“You people are the ones refusing to fix our health facilities so you travel out because of mosquito bite. So why tell us where to record when you can’t provide uninterrupted power here in Nigeria. Sometimes I wonder how we got it all wrong.”

His brother Peter Okoye, one-half of P-Square, said, “Sometimes I’m ashamed to be called a Nigerian because of these people,” adding that, “Dear Federal Government, for your information all the shame you bring to this country are covered by Nigerian entertainers.”

Mohammed’s statement, however, provided the need for local involvement as justification for the government’s plan. “For you to classify a product as a Nigerian product, it must have a certain percentage of Nigerian content,” he said, adding that, "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."