NCC confiscates N1.4b pirated books in Kaduna

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) at the weekend intensified its war on piracy when it confiscated pirated books and compact discs worth over N1.4billion in Kaduna.

The NCC Director-General, Mr. Afam Ezekude who led his team to destroy the pirated materials at the burning site along Birnin-Gwari road in Kaduna, said the materials were seized from pirates in the North.

The NCC boss further said the commission has arrested over 200 persons involved in piracy in the part of the country.

While taking stock of the Commission’s activities in the last six months, Ezekude said: “Between January 2011 and June 2015, the Commission has carried out 210 anti-piracy raids, culminating in the seizure and removal of 7,589,948 units of pirated copyright materials with estimated monetary value of N7,935,934,600.00 billion. This represents income that would have been lost to operations of pirates. Arising from these exercises, 459 suspects were arrested, many of whom were prosecuted.
“Within the period under consideration, 53 criminal convictions were secured, some of which resulted in maximum punishment of imprisonment without the option of fines. We currently have more than 175 cases pending at various divisions of the Federal High Court.”

“In our enforcement drive, we have built sustainable partnerships with other enforcement agencies, like the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Customs Service. The commission working in collaboration with Customs effected seizure of a total of 23 containers of pirated works imported into Nigeria, containing books, CDs, DVDs,” he said.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now