The Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG) has intensified efforts to secure licensing agreements with universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions to check the unauthorised reproduction of books and academic materials and ensure that authors and publishers receive royalties for the use of their works.
The organisation made this known at its South-West Zonal Advocacy and Sensitisation Programme held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, as part of a nationwide campaign to promote copyright awareness and encourage institutions of higher learning to embrace lawful reproduction practices.
A board member of REPRONIG and President of the Nigerian Publishers Association, Mr. Lukman Dauda, said the initiative was designed to ensure that authors, publishers and other creators received financial benefits whenever their published works were photocopied, scanned, downloaded or reproduced through other means for academic purposes.
Dauda lamented that unauthorised reproduction of books, articles and other creative materials remained widespread in academic environments, depriving intellectual property owners of income from their work.
He explained that REPRONIG was established to manage the secondary reproduction rights of creators and ensure that royalties generated through institutional licensing were shared among registered rights holders.
According to him, institutions using copyrighted materials would be required to enter appropriate licensing arrangements, with proceeds distributed to original owners who had registered their works on the organisation’s platform.
The Acting Executive Director of REPRONIG, Mr. Tosin Akeredolu, said the organisation licensed institutions of higher learning and collected fees for distribution to registered authors, publishers, visual artists and other rights holders in the text and image-based sectors.
He urged creators to register their works with the organisation to benefit from the additional income generated through reproduction rights.
Akeredolu noted that while authors and publishers earned primary income through book sales and publishing agreements, royalties from reproduction provided another source of revenue.
He stressed that reproducing copyrighted books for educational purposes did not automatically make the practice lawful, adding that appropriate authorisation remained necessary.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director of the Regulatory and Compliance Department of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Barrister Kunle Olatunji, said the Copyright Act 2022 provided legal safeguards against copyright infringement, including unauthorised reproduction of digital materials and online distribution of protected works.
Olatunji reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to enforcing copyright laws and protecting creators’ rights in the digital environment.
He also stressed that the emergence of artificial intelligence did not extinguish the rights of original creators whose works could be used in developing technological systems.
“Copyright is essentially a human right, not a machine right,” he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the REPRONIG Board, Mr. Gbadega Adedapo, said the sensitisation programme was part of efforts to deepen understanding of the organisation’s mandate and encourage institutions and other stakeholders to adopt its licensing services.
Adedapo disclosed that the Ibadan engagement was the fifth in a nationwide advocacy programme covering Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, with the final session scheduled to take place in Maiduguri, Borno State.
He expressed optimism that increased participation by tertiary institutions would improve compliance with copyright regulations and guarantee better financial returns for authors, publishers and other creative professionals.