The Nigerian Copyrights Commission has seized pirated works
worth over N6.5m in the Uyo, Abak and Eket local government areas of Akwa Ibom
State.
Most of the books seized by the commission were primary and
secondary school textbooks as well as some copies of the Holy Bible.
The Director of Enforcement, NCC, who was the team leader
during the raid, Mr. Augustine Amodu, on Wednesday, described the development
where people stole intellectual property as unfortunate.
He stated that the commission was determined to fight piracy
in all parts of Nigeria. He added that the officials of the commission had gone
round the East and the South-South.
Amodu stated that in one of the commission’s raid in Aba,
Abia State, the operatives of the commission were attacked and wounded by the
pirates. He added that it was sad that Akwa Ibom had now become a fertile
ground for pirated books.
He added that no attack on operatives of the NCC would stop
the commission from carrying out its mandate of protecting intellectual works.
He stated that prior to the raid, publishers and the Bible
Society of Nigeria had approached the commission that most of their works had
been pirated. He noted that the commission, based on the complaints, had
visited six bookshops in Akwa Ibom.
“We had a complaint from the Bible Society of Nigeria that
their Bibles were being pirated. The Nigerian Copy Rights Commission, based on
that complaint swung into action in Uyo.
“We decided to visit about six shops and in five of the
shops, we got pirated books worth N6.5m.
“The NCRC succeeded in arresting three people, two from
shops and a vendor. As for the vendor, I have directed that those books he
sells that are pirated be seized, while the others that may be genuine be
returned to him with a warning never for him to engage in illicit business
again.
“Our mandate is to fight piracy all over Nigeria. We have
gone round the East and South-South. We went to Aba where the NCRC operatives
were attacked,” he said.
One of the bookshop owners, Mr. Saviour Udo, said his shop
bought all the books from publishing companies. He assured that most books in
his bookshelves were genuine.
He said, “We got the books from the publishing companies.
The NCRC officials did not ask us for records of these books; they just started
picking books from the shelves.
“The books we have in the store are genuine, not pirated. At
least, 99 per cent of the books we have in the store are genuine.
“The remaining one per cent of the books are foreign books,
which were printed outside the country.
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