The Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein, has called for greater collaboration between governments, development partners and other stakeholders to enhance reading culture in Nigeria. 
  
In his address yesterday to mark this year’s World Book and Copyright Day, Asein said such collaborations towards entrenching a sound reading culture through the promotion and publishing of books and readable publications across Indigenous languages and digital platforms will help to actualise the vision of promoting books and reading across the board.
  
He noted that the NCC will continue to champion and promote models that will make more books available in accessible and readable formats, enhance and promote reading among young people and develop policies and strategies to promote copyright awareness and respect for authors and copyright works.
 
April 23 every year is set aside by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as World Book and Copyright Day to focus on the importance of books, promote reading and raise awareness on the role of copyright in promoting and protecting the rights of authors.
  
The theme of this year’s celebration, Read Your Way, the same as that of last year, focuses on the importance of reading for pleasure, supporting a child’s right to choose their own books and embedding reading as a lifelong habit with numerous benefits. 
 
The day is also a time to highlight the importance of books, authors, publishers, and libraries, while also safeguarding the copyright of authors.
 
The NCC DG said that in celebrating the 2024 World Book and Copyright Day, the Commission launched a year-long intervention programme to promote reading for pleasure and build respect for copyright through an ABC Action Plan viz: to adopt measures to make reading more fun; to bring books closer to more children and to choose change champions for books and copyright.