Get Guardian on GoogleDespite the growing global popularity of Nigerian music, films and literature, the creators behind the country’s booming cultural exports are failing to secure sustainable financial returns, raising concerns over lost earnings, threatened jobs and the long-term viability of the creative economy.
The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has warned that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with widespread piracy and weak royalty administration, could further erode creators’ incomes unless urgent measures are taken to protect their intellectual property and guarantee fair compensation.
Director-General of the Commission, Dr. John Asein, raised the concerns on Thursday in Abuja at the 2026 Annual Copyright Seminar for Journalists, arguing that the commercial success of Nigeria’s creative industry was not necessarily translating into economic security for individual creators.
He said the industry must move beyond measuring success through the commercial performance of record labels, film producers, publishers and digital platforms to ensuring that musicians, writers, filmmakers and other creative professionals receive fair and sustained returns from their intellectual efforts.
“A thriving creative industry does not automatically translate into a prosperous community of creators, particularly where authors and artists struggle to receive fair returns from the commercial exploitation of their works”, Asein said.
The warning highlights a growing economic vulnerability in Nigeria’s creative sector, where intellectual property generates commercial value but the people responsible for producing it often struggle to capture a fair share of the earnings.
Asein said the situation could worsen with the growing adoption of AI systems capable of generating music, literature, images and audiovisual content, particularly where copyrighted works are used without proper authorisation, attribution or compensation.
While acknowledging AI’s potential to improve productivity and expand creative opportunities, he warned that technological advancement must not undermine the economic rights of human creators.
“Artificial intelligence must serve human creativity, not make human creators economically irrelevant”, he declared.
He said questions of authorship, licensing, transparency, attribution and remuneration must become central to Nigeria’s emerging copyright and AI policy framework to prevent creators from losing control over the commercial exploitation of their works.
Beyond protecting current earnings, the NCC boss called for reforms in royalty administration, transparent contractual arrangements, stronger collective management of copyright and proper documentation of intellectual property rights.
He argued that creative works should be treated as enduring economic assets capable of generating income for creators and their legitimate beneficiaries long after their authors have died.
“The death of an author should not mean the death of the economic value of that author’s creative legacy”, he said.
Asein also urged stakeholders to explore ways of using properly documented copyright assets to facilitate access to financing, arguing that intellectual property could become a source of investment and long-term wealth creation if adequately protected and managed.
Such an approach, he said, would transform copyright from a largely regulatory instrument into a platform for building sustainable creative businesses, securing livelihoods and preserving wealth across generations.
Piracy, however, remains another major threat to the industry’s revenue potential.
Asein disclosed that the Commission had intensified enforcement operations against copyright violations in physical and digital markets, including investigations and prosecutions involving suspected book piracy and online infringement.
He said the NCC was strengthening its Special Taskforce Against Online Piracy (STOP) to tackle illegal streaming, unauthorised digital distribution and other forms of online copyright violations.
The Commission is also shifting towards intelligence-led and technology-driven enforcement, with increased attention to the commercial networks and financial transactions sustaining piracy.
As part of this strategy, Asein recalled that the Commission convened a National Seminar on Copyright, Cybersecurity and Nigeria’s Creative and Digital Economy in September, which produced the Abuja Copyright Action Plan.
The framework recommends stronger cooperation among government agencies, security institutions, regulators, telecommunications operators, internet service providers and creative industry stakeholders to improve intelligence sharing, electronic evidence management, financial investigations and enforcement against digital piracy.
However, he stressed that the economic value of the initiative would depend on effective implementation rather than policy declarations.
With Nigeria’s youthful population and growing international demand for its cultural products, Asein said an effective copyright protection system was critical to attracting investment, expanding creative enterprises and securing employment across the industry.
He urged journalists to investigate royalty payments, contractual arrangements, commercial exploitation of creative works, piracy networks and the financial conditions of creative professionals.
He also reminded media organisations that their articles, photographs, documentaries and other original contributions constitute copyright assets requiring protection.
The seminar, themed “Copyright Protection: Empowering Journalists as Critical Stakeholders in the Creative Industry,” is the second edition of the Commission’s annual engagement with journalists.
Three papers examining the NCC’s legal framework and mandate, reporting the creative sector, and copyright in the digital age were presented by Calebs Daniel, Ijeoma Egbunike and Mike Akpan.
The Commission also reaffirmed its commitment to the Moses Ekpo Prize for Innovative Copyright Reporting, instituted in 2025 to promote investigative journalism and public understanding of intellectual property rights.
