BY GRACE AIRHULE
Nigeria is projecting $2 billion in potential revenues within three years from advertising at the end of an on-going reform it is carrying out in its creative industry and advertising sector.
The projection was made by a Task Team working on the reform and echoed by Lai Mohammed, the country’s minister of information and culture, in Abuja at a technical session of the Task Team on Audience Measurement inaugurated by the government.
Mohammed said with the conclusion of the reform process, the entire creative industry would never be the same again. He particularly noted that the N400 million the country was currently earning from advertising was unacceptable and reiterated the position of the Task Team to raise it to $2 billion within a three year time frame.
The minister commended the team’s efforts in ushering in a time of great prosperity for the entire creative sector, adding that the metrics and data the team would be putting together, the standard of practice on receipts payments, the media monitoring service powered by technology for real time performance and evaluation, will create transparency and an enabling environment for all to thrive and be prosperous.
“What we have always asked for is a level playing field in our great country of more than 200 million people, over 500 radio and television channels, with at least 24 million TV households with the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa. This is music to my ears and is exactly what the president promised when he came into government – reform that will touch and improve the lives of the common Nigerian man,’’ Mohammed said.
He further disclosed that the government was also working on a sustainable content development plan to ensure win-win for content creators, production companies and TV and Radio Broadcasters, as well as to create a conducive business environment for all the international advertisers and agencies to rush to do business in the country, and also ensure that the committee would work hard to meet the November target for the completion of the exercise.
Meanwhile, Tolu Ogunkoya, the chairman of Task Team thanked the minister for his vision and passion for the industry and for his presence at the technical session.
