Copyright Commission arrests 7 notorious pirates in Yola

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has arrested and arraigned seven suspected pirates.

Mr John Asein, Director General (DG) of the NCC, disclosed this in an interview in Yola, while presenting a copyright certificate to a prominent stakeholder in the state.

Asein said that the suspects have “terrorised” authors and owners of other intellectual works in the country, adding that their arraignment followed intelligence reports on their activities.

“The suspects are not just ordinary people, they are people with huge volumes of pirated works and we have charged them to Court.

“Piracy kills and Nigerians are losing billions of naira yearly to it,” Asein said.

According to him, the commission is currently working with some federal law enforcement agencies on some suspected and targeted areas in the country, stressing that activities of pirates are on the increase while their ungodly activities had seriously affected and crippled many creative and intellectual works in Nigeria.

He revealed that many citizens are patronising pirated materials, either directly or indirectly.

“There’s the need for Nigerians to change their attitude and begin to distance themselves from pirated works. From records available, a lot of Schools across Nigeria patronise pirated books,” he added.

He urged Nigerians to always report any suspicious pirate activity to any of the commission’s offices or any security operative.

He lamented that paucity of funds, equipment and manpower as the major challenges affecting effective delivery of services by the commission.