The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has unveiled a new corporate logo in its effort to better position itself to achieve its mandate.

This is even as the Commission on Tuesday destroyed pirated books valued at N141.5 million, seized from booksellers and suppliers during various enforcement operations.

Speaking on the symbolism of the new logo at an event organised by the Commission in Abuja, the Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Mrs Ijeoma Egbunike, said the new logo features a circular green-and-red badge with 36 radiating red spikes representing the 36 states of the Federation.

“Together they form a hexagonal police star, symbolising the enforcement and police powers of the Commission,” she said, adding that the six tallest spikes represent the six major categories of copyright works: literary, musical, artistic, audiovisual works, sound recordings and broadcasts, and also reflect the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the abundance of creativity across the country.

She explained that the three flowing green-white-green blocks with the “NCC” initials embedded depict book spines, the flow of ideas, and the dynamic character of the subject of copyright.

The inner green circle stands for creativity and reinforces the Commission’s primary mandate of protecting creativity (also shown in the tagline), while the outer blue circle represents the all-round wealth generated by creative activities.

She urged journalists and media professionals to note the change and stop using any previous logo.

In another development, the Director-General of NCC, Dr John Asein, said the destroyed pirated books were seized over the past three years from bookshops and markets in Abeokuta, Sango-Otta in Ogun and Ibadan.

A statement from NCC said the Oyo State Coordinator, Mrs Oluropo Oke, supervised the destruction of the pirated books in Ibadan on behalf of the Director-General.

He said, “We valued the books before destroying them and found their total value to be N141,550,000. During the operations, we discovered that some booksellers could not prove the source of their purchases.

“There are several features that differentiate original books from pirated copies, including the binding, colour, grammage and point of purchase.”

The Director-General warned that the Nigerian Copyright Act empowers the Commission to punish any citizen caught pirating or illegally dealing in intellectual property.

He said those in possession of the seized books faced penalties ranging from fines and forfeiture to other punishments under the law. Asein noted that book piracy continued to harm national economic growth and deprived authors and publishers of the benefits of their work.

He explained that the books would not be burnt but shredded to prevent recirculation and protect the environment.

“We are making every effort to prevent pirated books from returning to the market. We are using a shredding machine because it is environmentally friendly. We believe that shredding will ensure the books do not re-enter circulation.

“We understand this is a significant loss to booksellers, but instead of buying from pirates, we encourage them to purchase from the original sources, publishers or their representatives, rather than from the streets,” he said.

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has intensified efforts to curb piracy through a mix of digital enforcement, traditional market raids, public education campaigns, and inter-agency collaboration, leveraging the new Copyright Act, 2022.

These actions target online theft, the printing industry, and physical markets for books, music, and films.