The duo of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) have pledged commitment to the development and implementation of a national anti-piracy strategy to address the sale of pirated books, films, music and other copyright infringing materials in and around the nation’s local and international airports.
The agencies agreed to work out the modalities for sustained proactive enforcement to ensure that the interest of right owners are adequately protected in line with the Federal Government policy of guaranteeing adequate return on investment and growing the creative sector.
Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, and Director-General of NCC, Mr. John O. Asein, disclosed this in Lagos over the weekend, during a consultative meeting held at FAAN Headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos.
Captain Yadudu gave firm assurance that FAAN would partner with NCC to ensure that its premises do not become a safe haven for copyright criminals.
He reiterated the commitment of FAAN to support NCC in its renewed fight against piracy in Nigeria.
According to him, “We are committed as Government agencies to protect the public interest even in copyright matters and we owe a duty to assist each other in executing our mandates.
The legal and commercial teams of FAAN will be deployed to assist NCC to strengthen its enforcement actions at airports across the country”.
While decrying the pervasive piracy in all copyright sectors, the FAAN MD urged right owners and other stakeholders in the industry to address the challenges in the distribution networks so as to make genuine copyright works more readily available in the market.
Earlier, the DG NCC, Mr. Asein had expressed concern at the high volume of pirated materials at the nation’s airport and the negative impact of this, not only on the fortunes of right owners but also on the nation’s image.