FG to charge companies N100,000 for every tv/radio advert not produced in Nigeria

Companies operating in Nigeria will now be made to pay at least N100,000 for every advert not produced within the country but televised to Nigerians either through international or local media.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed. He said every time the advert is aired, the company, be it local or foreign, will be charged at the aforementioned rate.

According to him, companies are fond of shooting commercials for products sold in Nigeria in the United States or South Africa, he said during an interview with NTA on Monday.

He said the charges will go into the content development fund, “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. 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.

“Gulder is made, processed in Nigeria. If you go to South Africa to produce an advert which you are going to air to Nigerians because Nigerians consume Gulder, what we have amended the code to say is that for every time that advert is aired in Nigeria either on radio or television, you pay a fine of N100,000.

“We are not stopping you from making your production in America or South Africa but if you are going to advertise in Nigerian territory, you will pay a fine of N100,000. In other words, if Gulder makes an advert in South Africa and it is shown on NTA, if it shows it 10 times a day, it will pay N100,000 fine 10 times.”