The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) says the new data tariff policy by the Federal government, will give way for monetisation of content by creative in the country.
According to the Federal Government, the price of data has been reduced by more than 50 percent with a directive that the Nigerian Communications commission, NCC, should put in place measures to that effect.
The Managing Director NFC, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe stated this on Friday in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja.
“The new tariff policy regime by government will give room for the monetisation of content, which is beneficial to both content creators and online platforms for content creation, acquisition and distribution.
“It will also reduce incidences of piracy, since it will encourage more migration to online platforms by film producers,” he said.
Maduekwe noted that the tariff reduction would also lead to Nigerian viewing demand audiences to increase.
He said that NFC would leverage on the actions already taken by the Ministry the Communications and Digital Economy to push for a more sustainable online digital environment, with vast and unlimited opportunities for wealth and job creation by creative minds across the country.
He explained further that never had filmmakers been under intense pressure to sustain film production activities in the past few years, most especially in 2020 with COVID -19 Pandemic.
“Vast opportunities exist within the domestic and global digital space, which when accelerated through friendly data tariff regime can accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s creative economy.
“This was the focus of the 2019 and 2020 NFC Annual Film Lecture,” he said.
The director further said that Nigerian Filmmakers would sustain the current conversation where several other windows and opportunities for safety would increase return on investments, financial losses and risk reduced.
He assured that robust engagements would be sustained as progress was being made towards the evolvement of future national data tariff plan and policy for the motion picture industry through further reduction.
“This reduction is timely since recently, the United States Department through the US Embassy in Nigeria facilitated a partnership between the Catalyst Group in the USA and NFC for online content creators, storytelling and distribution during 2020 ZUMA Film.
He noted that NFC had within the past two years canvassed and engaged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the adoption of a National Data Tariff Policy on content distribution.
