Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced his administration’s readiness to support the Marketing Communications industry in Nigeria through the provision of improved infrastructure to give the scenic settings required for great television commercials and creative contents that meet global standards.
The Governor, who was the Star Awardee and recipient of Marketing Edge Outstanding Political Brand Icon of The Year Award, made this disclosure while giving his speech at the Marketing Edge Brands and Advertising Awards of Excellence held recently in Ikeja, Lagos.
In his words: “I am not unaware that there was a time many of you needed to fly to Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg before you could shoot a good TV commercial for your clients. Today, the story has changed. Let me assure you, it can only get better from here. The infrastructures we are creating are gradually giving you the scenic settings you require for great television commercials that can earn more prestigious laurels from across the world.”
In March, the Federal Government had announced a fine of N100, 000 on local brand adverts broadcast on CNN and other foreign stations broadcasting in Nigeria, and on adverts of local brands that are created abroad. Due to lack of adequate infrastructure, the announcement came as a shock to both advertisers and practitioners in the Integrated Marketing industry as the NBC moved to also implement a regulation mandating exclusive licensees and broadcasters to share exclusive rights with other broadcasters.
However, Governor Sanwo-Olu in his speech noted that the government was fully developed to lend its resources to the imaginations of ‘creative rebels’ like Lanre Adisa, Steve Babeeko, Kelechi Nwosu and Israel Jaiye Opayemi, who lead a generation of fertile minds to create exciting campaigns that have put Nigeria on the global map.
He submitted: “You are the group of professionals who need to send files and folders in terabytes and gigabytes from one part of the world to another. With the laying of 6000 km of Fibre Metro Network across Lagos, our government is surely giving your operations the needed leg to show up at the appropriate places at the right time.”
“When we were crafting the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda, the Creative Industry where you play and the Technology sector were some of the sectors we had in mind at the conception of our Fibre Optic Project. Our readiness to support marketing-related initiatives is not limited to the Advertising sub-sector of the industry. It is open to various specialist areas that make up marketing. At the center of what we do as marketing professionals is creativity. And that is what our government is committed to promoting and encouraging.”
