THE Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has confiscated three 20-foot containers loaded with pirated literary works worth over N300 million Naira intercepted earlier by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at Onne Port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John O. Asein who disclosed this while addressing the Press and Stakeholders in Port Harcourt, on 12th April 2024 gave assurances of the Commission’s commitment to sanitise the entire copyright ecosystem.
He noted that with the stiffer penalties for criminal infringements provided by the present Copyright statute, the perpetrators and their accomplices will face the full wrath of the law.
According to the DG, the seized books belonging to several indigenous publishers, including: Evans, Macmillan, Learn Africa, African First Publishers, University Press, among others, were seized following an earlier intelligence report received by officers of the NCS.
While appreciating the NCS, the Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other agencies, working with the Commission to check piracy and other copyright infringements, he tasked stakeholders and the general public to report any suspicious activities in the book chain to the Commission or any of the partnering agencies.
Dr. Asein disclosed that the Commission has concluded arrangements with the Nigerian Customs Service on pre import licensing as a way of facilitating book imports to reduce piracy.
“NCC is upscaling service delivery in line with its performance bond agreement to bring piracy to a single digit and i urge stakeholders to share information that will assist in identifying illicit trade in the book industry” he further assured.
In his address, representative of the Customs Area Comptroller, Area 2 Command Onne, Mr. C. C. Epundu commended NCC on the success recorded so far. He expressed delight that the collaboration between the two agencies was fast yielding results while urging the Commission to continue to step up its activities in the areas of enforcement and information sharing.
The representative of the National President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Chief Austin Onwubiko, on his part commended the NCC, stating that the Commission had in recent times shown commitment and capacity to tackle piracy with reforms that are favourable to operations in the book industry.