Aondoakaa Vows to Curb Piracy

The fight against intellectual property theft may take another dimension with Michael Aondoakaa, the minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation’s pronouncement recently that government would give more legal backing to copyright enforcement in the country .He said that federal government would not afford to have Nigeria turned into a haven for pirates.
Aondoakaa reacted this way at the 20th anniversary lecture of the Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) which held at the Nicon Luxury hotel in Abuja.
"My ministry will therefore be assisting the Nigeria Copyright Commission to embark on a comprehensive review of copyright laws. This review will take into account Nigeria’s interest while complying with its international obligation in this area.
 “There is need to strengthen the enforcement provisions of the Act and improve on the provisions on right management with a view to rewarding authors and right owners”, he said.
The minister said government is aware of the many challenges facing the administration of copyright in Nigeria even as he revealed that that some of the challenges arose from new technologies and internet environment.
He also said Nigeria is now prepared to begin the process of ratifying the two World Intellectual properties Organization (WIPO) internet treaties as first step in granting further protection to copyright in digital environment.
Aondoakaa however implored NCC to use the text of the anniversary lecture as a working document in formulating a comprehensive action plan on how intellectual property can best serve as catalyst for achievement of Government’s vision 20 2020; the seven point agenda as well as on going re-branding effort.
Adebambo Adewopo, director general of NCC said the introduction of Copyright Optical Disc Regulation and resuscitation of copyright Notification Scheme has brought regulatory functions closer to the industry.
 “For the first time in the history of copyright law and administration in Nigeria, we have more reliable data on the production and ownership of copyright works. The importance of these schemes will be clear in the near future when they would have taken off fully," he said.
“The commission has explored several options and made all manner of concessions in the interest of right owners to be exploited without recompense. We are determined to find a lasting solution to this lingering problem,” he stated.
It would be recalled that regional anti-piracy snapshots  released recently by IDC and BSA  showed that piracy rate in Nigeria  has gone up by 1 percent which commentators have reacted  that the development has a lot of implication to the creative industry . Serge Ntamack, Intellectual Property manager, Microsoft said the trend even though by I percent  has a lot of financial implication on the economy .