The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Southeast and south south Directorate on Thursday paid a courtesy call on the President Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), Hon. Uchenna Cyril Anioke, Ph.D., in Enugu.
Congratulating Hon. Anioke on his emergence as National President of NPA, the Zonal Director/Coordinator of NCC, Mrs. Ngozi Cecilia Okeke, enumerated the challenges of the commission in further consolidating on its operations and asked for a synergy with the new leadership of NPA to deliver on its mandate especially in the fight against book piracy. She also asked for support on the Kiddies KGP program on Solid 100.9 FM radio which is the initiative of the NCC aimed at educating and sensitizing youngsters on the adverse effects of piracy.
Welcoming the NCC delegation for their visit, the NPA President, Hon. Anioke pledged to support the NCC in whichever way he can in his capacity as the National President of his Association. He stressed that the fight against piracy is a collegiate one which means that all stakeholders from authors to enforcement agencies must be involved and that there is need to distinguish genuine book sellers from pirates. He vowed that books must not die because it is the bedrock of human development.
A board member of the NCC who incidentally doubles in as the Vice President of the NPA South-East, Sir. Jesse Odu in his remarks noted that all stakeholders in the book business: authors, publishers, the presses, book sellers, librarians, and relevant government agencies should all work together to help NCC deliver on their enormous mandate. He decried the shortage of logistics and manpower in NCC which he said hampers their operation and called on all stakeholders to assist in any way they can. He concluded by pointing out the need for publishers to be proactive when copyrights are infringed.