As part of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) ongoing copyright sensitisation and compliance inspection exercise, the NCC Portharcourt Office carried out a joint inspection on book traders in Ariaria Market, Aba Abia State in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Commission, Nigerian Publishers Association, (NPA) and Ariaria Book Traders Association on Saturday, 4th October 2025.

According to the Director, NCC Port Harcourt Office, Mr. Abdul-Salami Babatunde, the exercise was part of the Commission’s proactive enforcement campaign to sanitize major book markets across the country and to ascertain the level of compliance amongst book traders in Ariaria market.

The inspection exercise was conducted in the following bookshops: Tonard publishers stockist, Ugo C. Ugo stockist, C. U. Uba Bookshop, Learn Africa stockist, Joel bookshops, St. Jude’s Bookshop, Mechi Global Bookshops and Tony Bookshops.

In a related development, a team of Copyright Officers and Security Officials led by the Director, Portharcourt Office visited some schools in Portharcourt metropolis for compliance inspection to ensure that pirated books are not used or sold in any private or government school in the State. Schools visited are: Teko School, Graceland International School, Tantua International Group of School, Mater Misericordia Secondary School and others.

Speaking during the exercise, Mr. Babatunde called on proprietors of schools to desist from patronising pirated materials while urging them to obtain their books from authorized dealers. He warned that copyright piracy was a crime and school proprietors and head of schools caught dealing in illicitly procured copyright protected materials will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.