The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says Nigerian brands which run adverts during foreign matches must compulsorily advertise during Nigerian Premier Football League games.
The minister while speaking on NTA’s ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme said, these are part of the plans by the Federal Government to help develop the local league.
The minister further stated that brands that create their adverts abroad but broadcast them on CNN and other international stations broadcasting in Nigeria will pay a fine of N100,000 each time such adverts are run.
Mohammed reiterated that “this was one of the rules included in the Broadcasting Code which has been rejected by many in the industry.”
He said in the event that the brand wants to run the advert on a local station like NTA, the brand would pay a N100,000 fine each time it is broadcast.
Mohammed said “adverts promoting Nigerian brands must be directed and authored by Nigerians inside the country.”
The minister said “If you do an advert in South Africa, you put it on CNN and we look at that advert and we see that the advert was not made in Nigeria but actually made in South Africa, or you see that five times a day, it is on CNN, you pay half a million to us. The half a million will go to the Content Development Fund.”
He further stated that the NBC had been asked to implement a regulation mandating exclusive licensees and broadcasters to share exclusive rights with other broadcasters.
Mohammed said this policy would ensure that Multichoice would no longer have the monopoly of broadcasting the English Premier League.
The minister added, “What is common today is to see products made in Nigeria but the advert for those products are actually probably done in South Africa or in the US. So, we amended the code to say that if a product you want to advertise in Nigeria territory is made in Nigeria, grown in Nigeria or processed in Nigeria, then you must make sure that the advert is also produced in Nigeria.”
Mohammed stated that if any Nigerian company invests in a foreign league, the firm must invest at least 30 per cent of that money in Nigerian football.
“We went further to say that if a company should invest $1m in bringing EPL to Nigeria, that company must also be ready to spend 30 per cent of that $1m in producing a local content along the same line.
Mohammed argued that until the anti-competitive and monopolistic tendencies are expunged from the broadcast sector, Nigeria would not be able to grow local content.
He said “The NBC has issued about 30 pay-TV licences but only one is managing to survive. Why? Because of these anti-competitive and manipulative tendencies of these foreign companies.”
