NCC, AEPB to enforce hawking of pirated works in FCT

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) have struck a pact to boost copyright protection through joint enforcement in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) against street hawking of copyright protected works like books, CDs, VCDs and DVDs. The Director General of NCC, Mr John O. Asein, and the Director of […]

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) have struck a pact to boost copyright protection through joint enforcement in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) against street hawking of copyright protected works like books, CDs, VCDs and DVDs.

The Director General of NCC, Mr John O. Asein, and the Director of AEPB, Dr Hassan Abubakar, who disclosed this at a meeting in Abuja, reiterated that street sales of copyright materials were illegal and would be checked in line with the relevant copyright and environmental laws.

Speaking during a courtesy visit at the AEPB headquarters in Abuja, the NCC DG expressed displeasure at the indulgence of persons posing as newspaper vendors but who in actual fact engaged in street sales of pirated books.

He also called for proactive partnership of NCC and AEBP to rid the streets of widespread peddling of other copyright works such as CDs, CDs and DVDs.

He said, “This unwholesome practice of selling copyright works on the streets is an open show of lawlessness which portrays a negative image of the country. Most of the people engaged in this illegal activity use the sales of newspapers and magazines as a decoy to perpetrate acts of copyright piracy.”

Responding, the AEPB director pointed out that the call for partnership was a renewal of an existing inter-governmental synergy between both government agencies considering that the AEPB had been clamping down on the activities of book hawkers and sellers of CDs, VCDs and DVDs on the streets of Abuja.

He noted that raids by AEPB operatives had resulted in large seizures while the offenders were being prosecuted for environmental nuisance.