Emmanuel Onyeje, country manager, Microsoft (Nigeria), has warned that piracy, particularly in the IT industry pose a huge problem to the Nigeria’s economy.
Onyeje also spoke of efforts by Microsoft to tackle the unarmed but lethal gang of pirates that left trails of tears, sweat and blood.
The Microsoft executive who spoke at the company’s ‘Play Fair Day in Lagos’ said the aim of the event was to further intensify awareness around the dangers of purchasing and deploying pirated products, and discourse its militating effects on the individual, businesses and economy with focus on proffering workable solutions.
He bemoaned negligence on the part of consumers who pave way for pirates by patronizing cheap or free download software.
According to him, over 60 per cent of personal computer world wide are likely to be affected in the acts of hacking which fuels piracy acts.
Onyeje said that the entertainment industry in Nigeria which has become a job creation haven is currently the worse hit.
“It is a subject that is very dear to my heart. It is not really about software. That is why we also brought people from the same industry to talk about this, because it impacts every aspect of our lives. The entertainment industry in Nigeria is one of the largest globally; creates jobs, showcases what Nigeria can do; create opportunities for youths to showcase their talents in singing, writing, acting and other creative arts.
“We as Nigerians are killing our own industries. That is why Nigeria is not providing the platform for the people to excel globally; because we as individuals allow piracy to continue. Piracy has many damaging index, but the most important is economic. All of us know that the most important topic in the country today is how to make the economy more sustainable. Issues like poverty rate, Boko Haram, MEND threats, will actually die down if we focus on poverty. Our long term security agenda should be on how to create more jobs and how to sustain the economy. When you are doing that, you need economic engine to drive the job creation agenda, especially the industries that can grow at a rapid rate.
“We have 70 million people, which industry can absorb them? However, we need to focus on the skills that those individuals can do. Thus, the intellectual property industry provides the opportunities for the people to create, but piracy does not allow them to thrive,” he said.
“But then they are a very important point, the hackers. Piracy helps hackers win. We all know we want better service from banks and the government. Then to provide that they need to invest in information technology. Get more computerized, but to do that they open up themselves to be hacked. The key thing the hacker does is to get into the companies’ or government’s computing power.
“But due to their inability of invest in huge technologies they offer the general consumers free something to download; they use that tool to compromise the security codes in your computer. Millions of people download this software. Then the hacker has access to millions of computers to use and perpetuate crimes. So, the broth-force empowers them to work. By then the consumer has helped the hacker to continue to do destructive things,” he maintained.
He said, “On top of that, people will not be able to properly use their PCs. Over 60% of PC users will be affected this year, because they are not aware what goes on underneath. But all of us have roles to play in educating the consumers”.
On her part, the Rita Amuchinwe, supply manager, HP, Anglophone Africa, said from the suppliers view (the Inks and toners), as HP producers, “We have very big issue in that area. Specifically, we have been taking practical steps to eradicate this. We have been talking to the press, running campaigns, provided solutions to it. Presently, it has been cut down to a very low number.”
To tackle the issue, Amuchinwa said that HP had invented a product authentication platform called QR CODE, which enables smartphone users at the point of purchase to authenticate the originality 0f the products.
“For those with feature phones or laptop users, they can download the application and whenever they go to the retailer, they will able to go the website through the code to authenticate,” she added.
She regretted that buying fake toners and other IT gadgets have caused consumers havoc in the recent past.
“It can damage the printer and the person automatically loses the manufacturer’s warrantee. We have also identified distributors that people can patronize. On our website we specified their offices and numbers to reach them. Virtually everybody is selling HP, but we are more interested in the consumers getting the right product,” Amuchinwa said.
Prior to the entrance of the Microsoft in Nigeria Africa’s second-largest economy, there had been a wide spread use of unlicensed Windows software in the country both by private businesses and individuals, however, Microsoft said through it 365 cloud computing solution, the issue is being tackled.
Microsoft Nigeria, through Play it Safe plans to x-ray existing Anti-Piracy laws in Nigeria and their effectiveness, industry collaboration in reducing piracy as well as the need for stronger laws to protect the new crop of developers and their inventions.