NCC shuts shops, seizes N6.5m pirated books

9 years ago

NCC shuts shops, seizes N6.5m pirated books

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.”