IF Nigeria would succeed in efforts at diversifying its economic sustenance beyond revenue inflow from petroleum products, the priority must be placed on the development of the creative industries and protection of copyright works against the onslaught of piracy.
Director-General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Mansur Liman made this declaration in Abuja on 5th September 2019 while receiving the Director-General of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr. John Asein on a courtesy visit at the FRCN Headquarters.
Assuring that the FRCN would continue to partner with the NCC for copyright promotion and anti-piracy campaign, Dr. Liman noted that the human capital and creativity of Nigerians were enormous with potentials to serve as viable streams of revenue for the country, if properly harnessed.
The DG FRCN, who commended the efforts of the NCC and its DG towards combating piracy, welcomed the Commission’s offer of free copyright training for FRCN staff and assured that the Corporation would also avail NCC public affairs staff of relevant public communications training at the FRCN Training School, Lagos.
Earlier, the Director-General of NCC, Mr. John Asein had informed that a three-month commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Nigerian Copyright Commission was flagged off on 19th August this year, adding that the theme was, “Changing the Copyright Narrative for Wealth Creation”.
According to him, the purpose of marking the NCC Anniversary was to signpost the regulatory role of NCC, highlight the relevance of the creative industries in national economic development and ensure sustenance of the growth of creativity and of the industries.
“If the oil wells dry up, Nigeria is endowed with a viable repertoire of creative industries that can sustain it economically. We must develop our creative potentials and harness benefits of the copyright sector on a sustainable basis”, he stated.
The Director-General enlisted FRCN as an official partner in the celebration of NCC 30th Anniversary in appreciation of radio as a major tool of social campaigns. He stated that the Commission would continue to collaborate with the Mass Media and other development partners to put in place programmes that would ensure that the creative industries continued to grow on a sustainable basis.
He called for collaboration between both establishments for mutual training of FRCN staff on copyright matters and NCC public affairs functionaries on effective public communications skills and strategies.
“The monster of piracy must be caged via public enlightenment and enforcement interventions. The agenda of pirates is not to develop but to steal, to kill and destroy. Pirates steal from creative industries, they kill creativity and destroy the national economy. Let’s all stand against piracy”, he declared.
Vincent A. Oyefeso
Director, Public Affairs
For: Director-General
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
