Renewed onslaught against piracy yielding results — NCC

The Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr John Asein, says the commission has succeeded in re-inventing the strategic action plan against piracy in the country.

Asein told our reporter in Ibadan on Tuesday that the commission had also adopted technology-driven approach to the fight against piracy.

The Director-General, who spoke to our reporter on the sideline of a lecture organised to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the commission, said that the new approach was already yielding the desired results.

“In the last two quarters, we have repositioned and re-energised ourselves for enforcement.

“We have moved away from the traditional street small-scale pirate pursuit to more intelligent and technology-driven approach to enforcement,” he said.

Asein, said that 30 years of existence of NCC had been well defining and a watershed, as it had put Nigeria on the World map as a highly creative country.

“In the past 30 years, we have seen the film industry move from celluloid and cinema to home video. We have seen the emergence of Nollywood.

“In these 30 years, we have seen the book sector expand. We have seen the broadcast sector move from a few stations that are terrestrial direct to home cable TV.

”So, as far as the creative sector is concerned and the industries are concerned, the last 30 years have indeed been very defining,” he said.

Prof. Andrew Okilagwe, a publisher and lecturer at the University of Ibadan, described piracy as endemic and problematic in Nigeria.

Okilagwe, who was the guest lecturer at the event, said the extent at which people pirate and destroy intellectual property of others was very terrible.

He attributed piracy to ignorance, high level of poverty, get-rich quick syndrome, lack of awareness and non-understanding of the implication.

The guest lecturer said that the problem of piracy could be curbed if the NCC, government and other agencies involved do the needful.

“The copyright narrative has to be changed if the Nigerian Copyright Commission is able to deliver on its mandate of protecting copyright in Nigeria,” he said.

Mrs Rose Odika, a Nollywood actress and Governor, Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Producers Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), Oyo State Chapter, said that the anti-piracy efforts of the NCC and associations like TAMPAN were yielding results.

She said that NCC had laid down its rules and it was left for government to keep the task force working.

Odika said that there were some aspects of the law that needed a review.

“For instance, where the piracy law says if I get hold of somebody pirating my own job, I need to first of all go to the police station and get an officer to follow me to where the person pirating my job is.

“I think this is tasking. I am looking at a way, whereby there will be a better way of arresting anybody that is involved in piracy,” she said.

It was reported that the event was attended by Mr Kolade Musoro, Managing Director, The Booksellers; a renowned author, Pa Agbo Areo; Akogun Tola Adeniyi, Mrs Taiwo Sogbesan and a host of others.

The event featured drama presentation and cutting of the anniversary cake.