Nigerian Copyright Commission vs. pirates: 5 things that should be done

The stakeholders had many things to say. One told a story of a friend in Kaduna who released a film on a Saturday and found pirated copies of it on a Monday, and noted that the famous Hausa musician  Dan Maraya Jos was no longer releasing new music because of piracy. In Niger, the man […]

The stakeholders had many things to say. One told a story of a friend in Kaduna who released a film on a Saturday and found pirated copies of it on a Monday, and noted that the famous Hausa musician  Dan Maraya Jos was no longer releasing new music because of piracy. In Niger, the man argued, radio stations paid royalties to the musicians for using their music. Nigeria has the same law, why is it not being implemented here? Dr. Ahmad Sarari, the Northwest Zonal Coordinator of the National Film and Video Censor’s Board pointed out that on a recent trip to Burkina Faso and Niger, he heard Nigerian music being broadcast and saw Nigerien artistes miming and dancing to Nigerian music without paying any copyright fees to the original musicians. There seemed to be no synergy between transnational enforcement agencies. Often when filmmakers find their works being pirated, they come to him and claim that the NFVCB is not doing their job. He appealed to those present to register their work with the National Copyright Commission so that it can be protected under law.

Victor Okonkwo, former chairman of the Books and Stationary Dealers Association complained that booksellers would buy books from publishers, but the publishers would then turn around and accuse them of selling pirated works, leading to raids by the National Copyright Commission. “We are bearing the brunt of piracy here in Kano” he said. Gbenga Olatunji, the governor of the Musical Advertisement Association of Nigeria had three major complaints about the way the NCC is operated. 1) “In the office in Kano there is no network. There is supposed to be a computer in every office, so that you can check with offices in Kaduna and other parts of the country on copyright claims.” He mentioned the problem of different films with the same name being registered in two different cities because there seems to be little communication between the offices. 2)  In Kano, the NCC does not have buses. He said that when cases of piracy were reported, musicians had to spend their own money in reports to police. “We are dying here in Nigeria,” he said. “Because of piracy, we don’t even make N200,000” on artistic works. “Piracy in Lagos is our major problem. Before you talk about piracy in other countries, the NCC should deal with the problem here.”

The DG agreed that artists should not have to live in poverty because of piracy. He was passionate about changing the status quo, he said, relating how during a recent interview on NTA, he asked them if they were paying royalties to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s estate for the music they were playing during the interval. “I think they thought I was joking,” he said, “but I was serious. If they are not paying royalties for such well-known music, what does that mean for the rest?” He encouraged copyright owners to register their works with the NCC to make sure they were protected. He pointed out that the NCC is partnering with the EFCC, Customs and other government agencies to combat piracy, and that they have carried out midnight raids on cd duplicating plants to make sure they are complaint. Since January the NCC has impounded around 22 million naira worth of pirated materials, and most recently this month arrested Anthony Onyejekwe, aka “Alaba King of Pirates” in Lagos. Despite these successes, however, Ezekude acknowledged the many challenges, pointing out that the NCC only had a workforce of 260 employees and was expected to wage a war against pirates all over Nigeria. He agreed there was need for operational vehicles and better communication but that the agency had not been adequately funded by the government. He implored to stakeholders to join an appeal to “our political masters to fund us sufficiently.”

I was impressed by the seeming sincerity and passion of the new DG, who had his own phone number announced so that stakeholders could contact him directly to report abuses. However, to make the National Copyright Commission effective, there is obvious work to be done on many different fronts.

1. Artists and producers must be proactive about registering their productions with the NCC and immediately reporting any cases of piracy they see.

2. The NCC, itself, needs to do a better job on publicity and communication. Following Gbenga Olatunji’s frustration that there is no NCC “network,” I searched for about an hour on google for the official NCC website while writing this article, and I could find none. If in this digital era, the NCC doesn’t have a website that the public can access, it is a scandal. If they do have a website, then they need to better advertise its presence.

3. Cooperation from politicians in allocating adequate funds to the copyright commission. If the film and music industries are indeed some of the largest income generators in the nation, then the copyright commission must be given what they need to protect them. If Nigerian lawmakers would stop voting themselves billions of dollars in salary increases, other “urgent recurrent expenses,” and pension increases for former military dictator billionaires, perhaps there would be more funds available for improving electricity infrastructure, supporting the copyright commission in protecting one of Nigeria’s largest economic resources, and other services. In addition to protecting the booming film and music industries, better copyright protection would also help established and fledgling publishing companies provide more outlets for Nigeria’s teeming writers.

4. There needs to be better education of and cooperation from the general public in valuing and appreciating Nigeria’s talent. Consumers need to commit to buying legal, not pirated works. To do this however, there needs to be better information about where consumers and marketers can purchase legitimate products and what those legitimate products look like. A marketer in Burkina Faso told me he would be interested in selling original works but that when he came to Lagos to purchase he didn’t know the legitimate marketers and had no way to contact producers. The National Film and Video Censors board has attempted to address this issue by requiring an official NFVCB sticker to appear on each original vcd or dvd; however, filmmakers often complain that they are required to buy the ten naira seal for each disc but that it seems to make no difference to customers who buy cheap copies from pirates. I know of no equivalent seal for music albums. I recently bought dozens of albums to give as gifts. The shop-owner claimed they were original but I suspect they were not. The question is where do I find the original? The only place I’m certain that I’ve bought original music is at the Jazz Hole in Lagos, and the albums there were upwards of N800, which seems too pricey for most Nigerians. Artists should also perhaps commit to keeping prices low to help combat piracy.

5. Pirates need to legitimize their businesses. As much as we may rail against pirates, they have also provided millions of people access to films, books, and music that would not otherwise be available. In an interview with Nollywood marketer Salewa Jide Thomas in Brooklyn, New York, published in Weekly Trust in January 2011, he told me “I don’t think we have a bootleg problem. We have a supply problem,” all over the world.

Many of the legitimate marketers in Brooklyn he knows were once pirates but realized the benefits of becoming legal. If pirates around the world, with their sophisticated distribution networks, could become legitimate marketers, then Nigeria would have one of the most powerful creative industries in the world.