In its effort to re-position the Creative Industry for optimal performance through legislative and regulatory framework, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture is to present three bills to the National Assembly.

The minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this in Abuja when he received some officials of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) on a courtesy visit to his office.

“We are putting three bills before the National Assembly. The first is the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the second is MOPICON (Motion Picture Council of Nigeria) because we believe that we must create that enabling environment for the creative industry and the third is the bill for the Establishment of the Tourism Development Fund,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the current situation under which artists access funds at high interest rates for their production is not encouraging, and that the enactment of the NEA will open new vista of opportunity for players in the industry to access funds that will enhance their performance.

He said MOPICON, on the other hand, will provide a self-regulatory framework to guide and standardize the activities of the nation’s movie industry, while the Tourism Development Fund will help in providing funds for training and project development, among others

The Minister identified piracy as the biggest challenge facing the creative industry and advised COSON to partner with other stakeholders in the industry to form a Task Force that will work along with the government to check the menace of pirates.

On the issue of payment of royalty on music being played by government-owned broadcast stations, the Minister insisted that the existing agreement between COSON and the broadcasters should be respected for the mutual benefit of both parties.

The Minister acknowledged that the Private Copy Levy is a veritable instrument that will guard against the infringement of intellectual property right but emphasized that the law has to be reviewed to conform with current realities.