The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has been charged by practitioners in the literary and publishing industry across the country to organise workshops and seminars to educate and enlighten the law enforcement officers, especially the police, on copyright and piracy laws to protect the intellectual property of Nigerian writers.
These stakeholders noted that this was necessary, for the fact that most police officers were ignorant of the piracy laws and do not even know what constituted the copyright laws and what aspect of criminal code deals with piracy, thus making arrests and prosecution of pirates difficult.
They made the call in Lagos, on Wednesday, during a two-day consultative forum for literary/publishing industry stakeholders organised by the NCC on reforms of the commission. It was presided over by the Director-General of the commission, Mr Afam Ezekude.
The stakeholders noted that when the police was well educated on these laws and fully empowered to arrest and prosecute, then piracy could be reduced to a very minimal level. The DG, in his address, noted the commission officially launched some reforms of the Nigerian copyright system to reposition the country’s creative industries for greater growth and competitiveness.
He said with the goal of updating and upgrading the Copyright Act to meet with emerging challenges of the digital age, the reform would enable Nigeria’s creative and cultural industries adapt and leverage new technological platforms for distribution and enforcement of rights in global markets.
