Get Guardian on GoogleThe Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG) has stepped up efforts to protect authors, publishers and other creators from unauthorised reproduction of their works, especially in academic institutions and the digital environment.
The organisation said it was engaging institutions of higher learning to secure licences for the reproduction of copyrighted books, journals and other academic materials, ensuring that creators receive financial benefits whenever their works are reproduced.
The initiative was disclosed at the South-West Zonal Advocacy and Sensitisation Programme for stakeholders, held in Ibadan to promote awareness of reproduction rights.
A REPRONIG board member and president of the Nigerian Publishers Association, Mr. Lukman Dauda, said the organisation was established to manage creators’ secondary rights and generate income from photocopying, scanning, digital downloads and other forms of reproduction.
Dauda said unauthorised photocopying and reproduction of books, published articles and other creative works were common in academic environments, depriving their owners of income from their intellectual efforts.
He explained that the licensing arrangement would ensure that institutions using copyrighted materials made appropriate payments, which would subsequently be distributed among registered rights holders.
The acting Executive Director of REPRONIG, Mr. Tosin Akeredolu, urged authors, publishers, visual artists and other creators in the text and image-based sectors to register their works with the organisation to benefit from the scheme.
He noted that while creators earned primary income through book sales and publishing agreements, reproduction rights offered an additional revenue stream.
Akeredolu stressed that reproducing books for academic purposes did not automatically make such use lawful, adding that appropriate permission was required.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director of the Regulatory and Compliance Department of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr Kunle Olatunji, said the Copyright Act 2022 provided legal safeguards against infringement, including unauthorised reproduction and online distribution of protected works.
Olatunji emphasised the commission’s commitment to enforcing the law and protecting creators’ rights in the digital environment.
He said the protection also extended to creative works used in artificial intelligence development, stressing that technological advancement did not extinguish the rights of original creators.
“Copyright is essentially a human right, not a machine right,” he said.
The Chairman of the REPRONIG Board, Mr. Gbadega Adedapo, said the sensitisation programme was designed to deepen stakeholders’ understanding of the organisation’s mandate and encourage them to embrace its services.
Adedapo said the Ibadan event was the fifth in a nationwide sensitisation series covering the six geopolitical zones, with the final session scheduled for Maiduguri.
He expressed optimism that increased institutional participation would strengthen compliance with copyright regulations and improve financial returns for creators.
