NCC seizes N7.9bn pirated works in 4 years
The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) on Wednesday said that it seized pirated works worth N7.9 billion in the last four years across the country.
Mr Afam Ezekude, the Director-General of the commission disclosed this at the opening of a copyright workshop on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights.
Ezekude said that the seizures were nationwide and where piracy activities were more prevalent.
“The commission in the last four years has made a seizures of pirated works valued at N7.9 billion across the country.
“In the last four years, the commission has carried out 210 strategic anti piracy operations in endemic locations across the country.
“The anti-piracy operations led to the arrest of 459 suspected pirates and seizures of over seven million quantities of pirated copyright materials,’’ Ezekude said.
He said that some of the seized pirated works were CDs, VCDs, DVDs, literary and inspirational books, the Holy Bible and dictionaries.
The director-general said that within the first and second quarters of the year, the commission arrested 16 suspected pirates during anti-piracy raids across the country.
According to him, the commission confiscated three shipping containers of pirated books, CDs, VCDs and DVDs at Apapa Wharf, Lagos in the second quarter of the year.
He said that the commission also secured an unprecedented 53 convictions against copyright pirates at the Federal High Courts jurisdiction across the country.
Ezekude said that the arrest of the pirated works was achieved in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Police and other relevance stakeholders in the industry.
The Director General said that the commission would remain resolute in its drive for enhanced copyright protection, awareness generation and zero tolerance for piracy of creative works.
According to him, the purpose of the workshop was to strengthen the capacity of collective management organisations.
He said the collective management “is a facility for realising the underlying objectives of the copyright system.
“Collective management organisations require the technical know-how to engage the emerging scenario of exploitation.
“The expectation of the workshop will provide opportunity to up scale the available expertise in managing the collective management organisations in Nigeria,’’ Ezekude said.
Earlier, Mr Chinedu Chukwuji, the Chief Executive Officer of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) said the workshop would help the collective management organisations to monitor the right use of works.
Chukwuji said that it would also protect intellectual properties, promising that the organisation would give adequate support to NCC to eradicate piracy in the country.
NAN reports that the workshop was in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the Norwegian Copyright Association (NORCODE) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO).
