In 1925, when an English preacher, Frederick Lewis Donaldson released the list of Seven Deadly Sins made globally popular by Indian leader, Mohatma Gandhi, many scholars, and analysts were thrilled by the encapsulating discourse that followed.
At number five was the sin- commerce without morality. This means good conscience should guide all our business activities. This explains why issues like tax evasion are treated almost like counterfeiting and robbery in other climes.
In Nigeria, under the guise of challenging times or lack of government support, any time there are efforts to regulate or expand the tax net of any sector; players must rise- up aggressively against it.
When The Advertising Regulatory Council Of Nigeria, ARCON, said it will begin to sanction Influencers, Brands, and Skitmakers, without Pre-Exposure Approvals from the body, consternation buzzed across the media and entertainment sectors. Indeed, the sectors attracted a lot of sympathy from the public as many felt they were still at their budding stages.
Interestingly, recent claims by popular skit-maker and actor, Broda Shaggi of how much he earns monthly has raised some questions.
The 29-year-old entertainer revealed that he earns over $40,000 a month from his skits on YouTube.
He made the revelation on a podcast interview with popular media personality Ehiz Okoeguale aka Dada Boy Ehiz on his show ‘Dada boy’
He stressed that numbers, consistency, and quality of content created are three factors necessary to be successful as a skit maker.
“I try my best. It’s the numbers that give you money. As a skit maker, it’s numbers always and you have to be consistent. Consistency is very very very key”, he said.
“You have to be consistent always because then, you’ll have more content. And more content means more money. That’s if you’re on YouTube and you grow your platform well.
“And asides from YouTube, there are brands that want to penetrate into your brand as well to work with you. And all they look for is numbers. You know, like how many views, who’s watching, what’s the comment like, what’s the reach; you know. That’s where the money comes in.”
Ehiz later asked him: “In six months, how much do you make off YouTube in dollar rate? Let’s say in a month, $40,000, higher or lower? $80,000, higher or lower?
0Broda Shaggi responded, “I make more than $40,000 but lower than $80,000 monthly.”
Broda Shaggi might not be the highest or lowest-earning player in this sector. But this revelation might give a fair idea of what the average player in this sector takes home each month. Now the questions – How many Influencers, bloggers and Skitmakers pay any form of tax? Why should they grumble over directives that advertisements they expose should be verified to identify those with unethical, unverified claims and misinformation, as well as any other form of violation of the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice?
The only reason is that they do not want to part with any money as verification fees even when they earn comfortable wages and might not be paying any kind of tax. Although the issue of heavy, multiple, and unjustifiable verification fees has lingered for a long time, it does not eliminate the relevance of monitoring advertising messages online. Bloggers, content creators, and skit makers can come together to tackle ARCON on this.
On its own, this directive from ARCON should be seen as a very good one and is needed to bring sanity to what is going on now on social media. Advertisements that are being exposed to consumers should be verified and approved to avoid negative experiences.
Israel Ogunseye, Head of Marketing for Kobobid aligns clearly with this and feels this is a development that is long overdue.
His words: “This is something advertising professionals have clamoured for in different variations especially because we see quite a lot of products that should ordinarily not be advertised, being advertised thereby putting consumers at risk. Health products fall in this category and it is saddening how some charlatans reign free in making bogus claims as well as exposing consumers to health dangers. Advertising with influencers as channels tend to allow brands make porous claims about their offerings and we really need to check this.”