CELEBRATED hip-hop artiste, Innocent Idibia aka 2Face spoke the minds of many artistes in the creative industry recently when he canvassed a massive crackdown on pirates who, he said, 'have not allowed those in the creative industry to reap where they have sown.'The multi-award winning R&B singer told The Guardian recently that piracy was one tumor that 'won't just go' in spite of the many efforts to tackle it. Idibia then called for concerted efforts by government and all stakeholders concerned to stamp out the scourge.Similarly, the singer advocated a complete overhaul of all anti-piracy mechanisms, noting that whatever structure that is presently in place has 'done more harm than good' to what should ordinarily be a flourishing Nigerian entertainment industry.Stating, 'Piracy is our biggest problem,' the singer, whose latest effort, Unstoppable, has earned him awards both at home and abroad, said, 'It is a massive issue that will send most of us in the entertainment business packing sooner than you know. You produce an album today and tomorrow, there are 10 versions of that album in circulation. There is no control and no one seems to care.'For Idibia and many other rights' owners, the scourge has continued unabated because government and its relevant agencies including the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and even the law enforcement agencies have not shown enough commitment in tackling it.In Idibia's view, the NCC and law enforcement agencies do not perceive copyright infringement as a serious crime worth pursuing. He noted that these agencies even look elsewhere while piracy crime continues unabated.His words, 'I don't think they see it as a big crime because if they see it the way they see robbery and drug peddling, they would have reduced piracy to the barest minimum. I have seen policemen look the other way even when they know that the CD they are selling in traffic is fake'.The singer from Idoma, Benue State, jocularly told a story of how even law enforcement agents that are supposed to protect rights' owners also indulge in copyright infringement.He said: 'A law enforcement officer was trying to show me that he was my fan and so he wound down his car window to hail me. Meanwhile, from the jacket of my CD in his car, I could tell that the CD he was playing was fake! So, if those that are supposed to make arrests are themselves buying pirated CDs, how can you fight piracy' As I talk to you, the situation is very bad. It is so bad that none of us can boast of good revenues from album sales. What has been sustaining us are the shows and concerts we play.'INDEED, Idibia's views represent the feelings of so many artistes in the creative industry who do not only consider the situation worrisome, but see it as a monstrous disincentive to investment in the creative industry.Artiste manager, Frank Ojeah summed it up thus, 'For someone like TuBaba to cry out, even as successful as he has become, is a pointer to the fact that the situation has come to a head and that pirates are no respecter of persons'.Ojeah is happy that artistes in the class of 2face have decided to speak out on the matter, stating that the battle would have long been fought and won if the artistes themselves had been involved in the war against piracy.'I am not asking them to leave performance and chase pirates, but as people with fans across the country, there is so much their getting involved in public enlightenment would have done to reduce the scourge', he said.Nevertheless, Ojeah thinks that the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has failed in its responsibilities, as it has not shown enough commitment in the fight against piracy. 'The NCC is a toothless bulldog', he charged. 'The commission is constrained in the area of enforcement. Once, I went to their Lagos office to complain about how the work of my artiste had been pirated but the place was deserted. Even when I met a staff, he asked that I took my complaint to Abuja! Is that an agency one should rely upon' Of course, not!'Music piracy has assumed another dimension because of the inefficiency of the NCC. Carry out a raid today and you will realise that over 70 percent of the music in circulation are pirated. Pirates have wrecked the music industry'.IF those in the music industry are lamenting, their colleagues in the movie industry say they are the worst hit. For them, piracy has almost killed the industry. They blamed the NCC for looking the other way while copyright infringers perpetrate their act in the full glare of all. For instance, they decried the fact that pirated movies are now hawked in the open and are released only a few days after the original copies and this has made it impossible for filmmakers to recoup their investment.According to immediate past president of Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Bond Emeruwa, 'Piracy accounts for over 70 per cent of all sales of Nollywood films'. The situation is even worse internationally as 'More than 95 per cent of all Nigerian movies sold outside the shores of Nigeria are done by pirates'.President of Filmmakers Association of Nigeria (FAN), United States chapter, Tony Abulu, corroborated Emeruwa's views; stating that the inability of Nigerian government and its agencies to curb piracy both at home and abroad may lead to the eventual demise of what he described as Nigeria's only indigenous industry.Abulu, who, early in the year, instigated a major raid on bootleggers in the United States, maintained that piracy remains the albatross of Nollywood and that the only institution capable of putting an end to piracy is the Nigerian government through the NCC.He said, 'Government can achieve this by effective legislation. Right now our borders are so porous that pirated copies of our films enter Nigeria from China and Singapore in packages of 20 films recorded on one DVD and sold in the mainstream Nigerian market for one dollar. No one will buy a film no matter how well produced if he can see 20 films for just one dollar'.Abulu stated that FAN, which he leads, has identified over 20 illegal internet sites owned and operated mostly by Nigerians, Ghanaians and some Caribbean nationals living in the US and the United Kingdom. According to him, FAN had approached authorities in Nigeria on so many occasions to solicit their assistance in the effort to shut down the illegal websites but 'unfortunately and for unknown reasons, we have not received any positive response'.He explained that what these Internet criminals do is to buy a copy and stream it for free on the World Wide Web to over 100,000 free viewers per title.: 'Some of the website owners falsely claim that the Nollywood films are free of any copyright because they are not represented by any authorised distributors in the US'.However, he indicated that FAN is addressing all that as it has entered joint agreements with African Artists Collaborative (AAC), a non-profit institution in the US, which has gained the full support of Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors (PIIPA).The joint initiative between FAN, AAC and PIIPA provides unprecedented support for Nollywood by supplying top U.S. attorneys to help register and litigate copyright infringement of Nollywood films in the U.S. Pro Bono Publico.Veteran filmmaker, Chief Eddie Ugbomah (OON), thinks that Nollywood and indeed the entire creative industry may remain in its present lull or head for its eventual demise if the tide as it concerns copyright enforcement does not change. Ugbomah wondered why the artistes 'have to beg the NCC to do a job it was set up to do'.He said: 'Why must we beg them to live up to their responsibilities. If the NCC cannot do what is right, government should scrap them and set up a body capable of guaranteeing a society that respects intellectual property'. Ugbomah reasoned that the problem of piracy in Nollywood gained grounds as soon as government licensed replicating plants and did not as much as monitor their operations. He alleged that even the NCC that is supposed to curb piracy in the country does not know the number of replicating plants that are in operation in Nigeria. 'But I know', he enthused. 'The replicating plants are more than 28. You see, I once asked the President to scrap the NCC; instead, he changed the leadership. I am waiting to see how the new D-G will reduce the copyright infringement menace'.BUT the NCC says it is stepping up efforts to stop the menace of intellectual property theft in the country.Restating the commission's commitment to the regulation of the country's copyright industry, its Director-General, Mr. Afam Ezekude, disclosed that since assuming office, he has taken a number of steps including raids and arrests that are aimed at fighting the scourge.Ezekude pointed to the recent arrest of six suspected pirates and the confiscation of an estimated N5 million worth of copyright infringing products including a large consignment of foreign and local VCD/DVD movies as well as text books and dictionaries whose titles belong to different publishers like Macmillan, UPL Africana, Oxford and NNPC (Northern Nigerian Publishing Company) during an anti-piracy operation in Gusau, Zamfara State as one of the gains of its renewed commitment.He also said raids had been carried out at the notorious Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos, and in other locations across the country.Even when a delegation of stakeholders from Kannywood ' the umbrella body of stakeholders in the movie industry in the northern part of Nigeria ' paid him a courtesy visit, Ezekude gave assurance that the commission was poised to deliver on its mandate and ensure that investors in the sector reap the fruits of their labour.The DG, who recently announced the establishment of special copyright marshals across the country to boost efforts at combating piracy, expressed the commission's readiness to boost the tempo of enforcement activities by initiating a public-private sector partnership for the appointment of Copyright Marshals.But stakeholders in the creative industry say the fight against intellectual property infringement has gone beyond carrying out occasional raids and setting up special marshals. They want the commission to be more active in the discharge of its duties and to also ensure a proactive enforcement of the copyright law so as to make the creative industry lucrative.They wondered why it has been difficult for the NCC to adopt the kind of passion exhibited by a public officer like Prof. Dora Akunyili during her days at NAFDAC in the fight against piracy. 'We need the kind of Professor Akunyili's NAFDAC show to sanitize our own industry', remarked Fullmoon, a one-album reggae artiste. 'She (Akunyili) took on all those drugs pirates and today there is sanity in the drug business. That's the way we want the NCC to be perceived'.ALTOUGH stakeholders admitted that the present leadership of NCC seems resolved to redress the situation, they nevertheless proposed a number of measures that will enhance the anti-piracy war.First, they want the NCC to shift its focus from administration to enforcement and to exercise an aspect of the revised legal framework that confers powers, rights and privileges of a police officer on copyright inspectors as it concerns investigation, prosecution or defence of a civil or criminal matter under the act.Besides, stakeholders say they want the copyright laws to be reviewed in line with international laws and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) conventions. Stakeholders feel that Nigeria's piracy laws are stale and that the commission, as constituted, should be restructured.Filmmaker, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, thinks the copyright law in Nigeria is very stale while penalties for infringement are too lenient. According to the producer and director of the box office flick, Tango with Me, the penalties have encouraged more people to pirate works than it has discouraged.The filmmaker gave an instance of how a Federal High Court in Lagos convicted a book pirate and fined him 'just about N55,000' on a two count charge of book piracy, bordering on unauthorissed sale and distribution of 274 copies of assorted literary works, including text books in which copyright subsists.The filmmaker and pioneer President of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) reasoned that if the laws are stringent and the penalties are very high, perpetrators would desist from their nefarious acts. 'They will certainly find another trade but right now, with this kobo kobo fines, they will prefer to pirate and be asked to pay fines', he argued.Former President of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) and Chairman of the only government-authorised collective rights management organisation, the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, shares the views expressed by Ali-Balogun. He, however, thinks that there is an urgent need to carry out enlightenment campaigns in the country to educate people about piracy.At a recent forum on copyright organised by D'talkshop, Okoroji said beyond the raids and prosecution, what the various stakeholders need do is to embark on sustained public enlightenment that will be targeted at the pirates and the consuming public. 'We need to educate people about the problem of piracy and that is why at COSON we heightened our public enlightenment campaign. A lot of the music fans need to be educated', he said.The other problem that was identified outside the need to review the copyright law is the need for quick dispensation of justice. Stakeholders maintained that there are a number of cases bordering on copyright infringement that are still pending in courts across the country. Reference was made to the case of Tony Onwujekwe, alias Alaba King of Pirates, who was charged with the piracy of thousands of copies of the albums of various Nigerian artistes including 2-Face Idibia, P Square, Bracket and Buchi. The case has suffered serial adjournments.Stakeholders also say that if government is truly committed to the fight against piracy, it must get the NCC to partner other bodies and agencies like COSON and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) that are desirous of setting up effective distribution and marketing models. Marketing experts and one of the proponents of an auditable distribution platform in Nollywood, Yinka Ogundaisi, has argued that an effective distribution system, whether for music or movies, can effectively neutralise all inclinations to piracy and other illegal activities.But more importantly, stakeholders want the urgent reintegration of the NCC with what an elder artiste described as 'the source of its being: the ministry that coordinates culture activities and promotes cultural industries ' the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Stakeholders think that the NCC is more useful under the culture ministry than it is under the Justice Ministry.The emphasis was on the perceived disconnect since the parastatal was erroneously moved from the culture to the Justice Ministry. So stakeholders want President Jonathan to address the issue as he promised during the famous interactive session with them early in the year.The President had this to say in reaction to their demands at the interactive session: 'I think certain institutions in the sector are headed by wrong persons or are either under the wrong ministry, and that we need to address that.'Government is probably too far from the creative industry. Government needs to be closer to the creative industry. The key thing mentioned here today is piracy; without handling piracy, you cannot progress. It seems existing legislations are not strong enough. We need to strengthen the laws and set up a body to handle it'.
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