BSN receives three containers of pirated Bibles

Nigerian Copyright Commission warns against piracy

In a bid to protect intellectual property and boost creativity, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) at the weekend confiscated N275 million worth of pirated works intercepted at the seaports.

The Director-General of NCC, Afam Ezekude, while displaying the three containers of bibles, books and compact discs, told journalists that the commission seized a total of N8.3 billion worth of pirated goods from 2011 to 2016. He said the goods were being imported from China.

He further warned Nigerians, who indulge in piracy to desist from importing pirated works as the commission and the Nigerian Customs Service are determined to clamp down on such people, seize their goods and prosecute them.

He gave this stern warning at the commission’s Lagos office at Costain, where the seized pirated Bibles and Christian literatures were handed over to the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN).

Receiving the seized items, Mr. Samuel Sanusi, who represented the General Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of BSN, Mr. Dare Ajiboye, BSN, commended the efforts of the commission.

“As an organisation, one of the greatest challenges we have is piracy. It is saddening to invest time, money and energy to produce a creative work which is stolen and reproduced by pirates,” he said, while advising pirates to desist from the criminal act and pursue a decent way to earn a living.

Ezekude hinged the successful seizure of the items on the long-standing collaboration between the commission and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in its determination to stop the importation of pirated works into the country and ensure that owners of copyright benefit from their investments.

He remarked that if these goods were allowed to enter the Nigerian market, Nigerian copyright owners would lose that value to pirates, adding that the commission within the period filed several criminal charges against copyright offenders in different courts across the country and secured a total of 55 convictions against copyright offenders.