Nigeria Moves To Replace Foreign Cartoons With Local Content To Prevent ‘Foreign Behaviors’ Of Children
The Nigerian government has expressed concern that children in the country are being overexposed to international cartoon characters and learning “foreign behaviors” that are not aligned with local values.
The comments were made earlier this month by Lanre Onilu, director-general of Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA), which is the agency tasked with communicating government policies and fostering national unity and development.
In comments reported by Nigerian newspaper The Guardian, Onilu said:
We are worried that Nigeria is giving birth to children with foreign behaviors. We have noticed that our kids learn many foreign attitudes through cartoons from other countries. We are going to replace them with local cartoons that will promote our character and culture so that those currently shown on GOtv, StarTimes, and the rest will be substituted.
The tv listings for Nigerian children’s television includes many American series like Spongebob Squarepants, Sofia the First, Craig of the Creek, Cyberchase, Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, and Hamster & Gretel, as well as Chinese shows like Boonie Bears and Big-Headed Kid and Small-Headed Father.
According to Onilu, Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has already approved replacing foreign animation with Nigerian content. It was not immediately clear how Nigerian broadcasters would be expected to implement the policy to replace thousands of hours of foreign animation content with locally-produced content, as the Nigerian animation industry produces a limited amount of series . While there are a growing number of Nigerian shows, such as Jay Jay: The Chosen One, local production capacity is quite limited and the government has not yet indicated any additional support to grow animation production capacity.
The news has been met with skepticism by some in Nigerian media. The hosts of the talkshow Jasiri discussed the news at length and generally agreed with the need for more Nigerian content, but also questioned the government’s motives, arguing that Nigeria faces issues with core societal problems like education, health, and government corruption, and that animation is the least of its problems. The conversation can be viewed below:
Interestingly, while dismissing the need for a government policy on animation, the hosts also discussed Western cartoons that they would not allow their children to watch, including Peppa Pig (“Peppa Pig has a bad attitude, she’s insulting and disrespective to her father in particular and she’s not nice to her siblings”), Teen Titans Go!, and Dora the Explorer (“Where is this small girl walking about? When it comes to representing our culture, a parent would not just allow a child to carry a backpack and be walking about with a monkey”).
The program to replace foreign animation with locally-made content is part of a broader campaign to advance the country’s National Anthem and National Value Charter and change the narrative about Nigeria. “Nigeria’s image has been badly portrayed abroad as a country of kidnappers, bandits, terrorists, fraudsters, and so on,” Onilu said. “We want to redefine our identity because, at the moment, nobody can clearly define Nigeria’s identity. In the past, during the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria had a well-defined identity.”
