THE Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) Dr. John O. Asein, has admonished Netflix to continue its investment in the Nigeria film industry, in line with its policy thrust of developing local contents, to generate more blockbuster movies out of the Nigerian creative space.
This was stated during an advocacy visit of Netflix to the Commission in Abuja on 4th July 2024.
The DG-NCC lauded them for their capacity building initiatives and for supporting the movie industry. He stated that apart from the popular faces, stars and producers in the industry, there should be new discoveries that are pulled out of obscurity to limelight. “There are so many Nigerians with many stories to tell and if we support them, you will have more blockbusters coming out of Nigeria.”
While calling for more collaboration with the NCC in the area of discovering talents, Dr. Asein noted that beyond antipiracy, the Commission is concerned with how best to add value build a culture of respect for copyright and ensure a sustainable future in Nigeria.
Lamenting on the issue of piracy, he observed that from available statistics the growth in the nation’s film industry is phenomenal as Nigeria is rated the second or third largest movie producing country in the world. “How do we work together to ensure that this huge creative industry is not only sustained but also brings a return on intellectual investments”.
In her address, the Director of Public Policy, Netflix, Ms. Shola Sanni said that the world is becoming aware of the depth of wealth that resides in the creative industry in Nigeria. Afrobeat music is taking the world by storm an indication that Nigeria is becoming a global music giant.
Ms. Sanni, informed that NETFLIX business model is patterned on local for local and they are intentional about it. ‘’We are interested in local stories, local talents and development of the local ecosystem’’.
On the issue of piracy, Ms. Sanni, informed that Netflix is working with global partners like the Motion Pictures Association and the AV Association in Europe to tackle especially those who commercialise and unfairly benefit from other people’s rights and creativity.
Speaking on NCC’s request for collaboration in the area of capacity building, she said that Netflix is delighted to work in alliance with other international partners like the International Institute for Communications (IICA), the Europeans Universities Institute, and many other institutes whose primary business is capacity building for policy makers and regulators. ‘’What we are hoping is that within the next two to three months, we can kick off a capacity building programme starting with our policy stakeholders in Nigeria and I hope the NCC will be able to take advantage of this’’ she stated.
Responding, the DG NCC, informed that the Commission has an Online Antipiracy Unit, but ‘would want to be able to help the international movie industry to go after those who are in Nigeria and infringing on people’s rights. We’ve built some relationship with the police, the Interpol, the ICT Unit in charge of cybercrime and Google. We also have relationships with the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Nigerian Communications Commission to be able to take down infringing contents and we will keep working in collaboration with other agencies’.
Others in attendance were the Senior Consultant, Digital Policy, Africa Practice, Ms. Amaka Onyemenan; Director, Nigerian Copyright Academy, Mr. Collins Nweke and Deputy Director, Operations, NCC, Mr. Usang Bassey.
Amos Abutu
For: Director-General
