THE Director-General of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John O. Asein has said that the new Copyright Bill, recently passed by the National Assembly, deserves speedy assent by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He stated this while speaking as a panelist at a book roundtable discourse and awards ceremony with the theme: “Book as an Agent of Change in A Rapidly Changing World”, organised by Flannel Business School in Lagos on 16th August 2022. The National Assembly had, in July 2022, passed the Bill for an Act to Repeal the Copyright Act, Cap C28 LFN, 2004 and Enact a New Copyright Act 2022.
According to the Director-General, the Copyright Bill, when assented to by the President, “would certainly give the Nigerian Copyright Commission a better leverage to stop physical and online abuse of copyright in order to ensure that authors, publishers and everyone in the book chain get good return on investment.”
Dr. Asein also expressed optimism for growth of the book industry, adding that the presence of several Royal Fathers at the book roundtable discourse was an indication of the importance of the book industry.
He urged publishers to: “meet the readers where they are in order to boost reading culture in Nigeria. If readers are going into electronic books, then publishers should provide the books in that format.”
The Director-General stressed that the Commission would continue to work hard in ensuring that pirates were not comfortable in their domain. He assured the Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi that the Commission would treat his book as a VIP book that would not be allowed to get into the hands of pirates. “We should respect some institutions and authors and respect their books,” he added.
Earlier, the Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who was the Royal Father of the Day, noted that gatherings like that were not lacking in Nigeria, but they needed follow-up to make use of the outcome to move the society forward.
Awards were presented to Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Oba Adedapo Adewale Tejuoso; Commissioner for Education, Lagos State, Honourable Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, the Managing Director and CEO, Evans Brothers Publishers Ltd, Alhaji Lukman Dauda; DG NCC, Dr. John O. Asein and all the panelists of the roundtable discussion.
