By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has announced plans to roll out minimum documentation required for booksellers, as a way of curbing piracy in the country.
This was disclosed in an interview by Mr John Asein, the Director-General of the commission, who noted that the documentation exercise had commenced already in Abuja and would spread across other states in the country.
He added that the commission was working to make the online registration for booksellers seamless and easy.
According to him, as soon as NCC rolls out the regulation, it becomes mandatory for all the booksellers in the country.
“I am hoping we can achieve this beginning of next year. So as we approach the next book season, we will have rolled out some of these initiatives.
“Every printer, publisher and bookseller in the market must meet our minimum demands,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The NCC boss further disclosed that the commission had opened the pathway for the anti-piracy devices, adding that the rollout regulation would be backed up with the use of the hologram.
“We are going to take it in phases. We will start with the purely voluntary scale and also determine which books may require compulsory use of the hologram.
“The commission has different models, which we are already discussing with the publishers. NCC will procure and give the holograms to the publishers.
“There are also models that will allow the publishers to just take our prescribed hologram, and then go ahead and produce for their use,” he explained.
Mr Asein stated that there would be a uniform format that would be well-tracked, stressing that any hologram out there would be well-documented in their records.
“Through this, we will be able to follow up in the market and make the job of the copyright officers easier, as well as fighting against piracy more effectively”.
The director general further appealed to those engaged in piracy to desist from it, stressing that piracy in the long run, kills, steals and destroys other people’s work.
“As a matter of fact, piracy kills creativity. We know authors who have resigned from the business of authorship because of pirates.
“So, it steals from them, individuals and investors and destroys the economy.
“There is no better time for everyone to fight against piracy because we cannot sustain the creative economy if we keep allowing people to steal from that economy,” he added.