Nigeria Copyright Commission gets new DG

A copyright lawyer John Asein has been appointed the director-general of Nigeria Copyright Commission.

Asein has been with the Commission since its inception in 1988. He was the director of the Nigerian Copyright Institute, the training and capacity building arm of the NCC.

This is about the first time in decades that an in-house expert would be appointed to head the Commission.

He has for more than two decades been involved in shaping copyright law and policies in Nigeria. He has also participated in negotiating Nigeria’s position on several international copyright issues.

A graduate of the New Hampshire School of Law (formerly, Franklin Pierce Law Center), the Universities of Lagos and Calabar, Asein is also author of Nigerian Copyright Act, with Introduction and Notes; Introduction to Nigerian Legal System and consults widely in the field of intellectual property law, authorship and innovation management.

He lectures in the Masters of Intellectual Property (MIP) programme, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe; the Master of Laws (LL.M.) programme, University of Abuja and the Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD) programme, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) Abuja, NIGERIA.

He also lectures part time at the University of Abuja as an Associate Professor of Law.