The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) says the nation’s advertising industry loses over N120 billion annually to the production of advertising, advertisement and marketing communication materials outside the country.

In a statement on Monday, ARCON’s director-general, Olalekan Fadolapo, said the development had continuously led to job loss and retarded the advertising industry’s growth.

According to Mr Fadolapo, the current efforts of the federal government on job creation, inclusive growth and development are negatively affected by the trend.

He said Section 8(1)( I) of ARCON Act No 23 of 2022 empowered the council to ensure the preservation of local content and the use of indigenous skills in advertising and marketing communication materials.

Mr Fadolapo said the council would commence the implementation of a policy to ensure a minimum of 75 per cent cumulative local content of all materials.

In implementing the policy, he said models and voice-over artistes must be Nigerians while the materials must be done in the country and reflect its ambience.

Mr Fadolapo also said while the production crew may include foreigners,” Nigerians and Nigerian organisations must partake in the production.”

He added that the policy would enable Nigerians and the economy to benefit from an industry that had enjoyed tremendous local patronage.

The director-general also said the policy would create over 500,000 new job opportunities annually within the advertising industry with a positive multiplier effect on the economy.

He added that the new policy would attract investment into the industry while capital flight would be discouraged.

(NAN)