By Evelyn OSAGIE
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in partnership with the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has commissioned a diagnostic study project to review the operations of Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) in Nigeria for enhanced performance.
According to the Country Director of AFD, Mr. Paschal Gregeau, the project is part of AFD’s support to strengthen the collective management of copyright in Nigeria. AFD is the French government’s bilateral donor agency in Nigeria; while the NCC is the Nigerian government agency responsible for all copyright matters, including the regulation of CMOs in the country.
The engagement contract was signed at the AFD Country Office in Abuja, in the presence of the Director-General of NCC, Mr. John Asein, by Mr. Paschal Gregeau for AFD and Mrs. Isioma Idigbe on behalf of Messrs Punuka Attorneys, a firm of legal practitioners. The AFD Country Director, while underscoring the importance of the project, stated that it would focus on the operational and governance dimensions of collective management in the country, including a review of their accounting processes, with a view to making recommendations for improvement.
In his remarks, Asein, reiterated the NCC commitment to entrenching a regime of sound collective management of rights In Nigeria.
He reaffirmed the commission’s stand that CMOs should subscribe to the highest standards of good governance, responsibility, efficiency, accountability and transparency.
The Director-General also expressed hope that the outcome of the study would assist the commission in its policy and regulatory interventions towards engendering a more effective CMO regime in Nigeria. The project commenced on November 4, 2019 with the signing of the contract.
In a related development, the commission has commissioned KPMG to conduct an audit of the accounts of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (Ltd/Gte) (COSON).
The audit, according to the Governing Board of the Commission, is a precondition for the renewal of COSON’s operating licence. COSON had applied to the commission for a renewal of its licence, which lapsed in May, 2018. “It is hoped that the steps being taken by the commission would, among other things, guarantee transparency and restore the confidence of concerned stakeholders in Nigeria’s collective management system,” Asein said.
Meanwhile, as part of NCC strategic interventions towards enhanced copyright protection, it has inaugurated a corps of Special Copyright Inspectors (SCIs) to check the menace of copyright piracy in the country.
Asein disclosed this in Abuja at the weekend during the investiture of the chairman and members of the Governing Board of the commission as pioneer SCIs in line with section 38 of the Copyright Act 2004 which vests all the powers and privileges of a Police officer in the copyright Inspector.
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According to him, the investiture which was done during the Board meeting was imperative to complement the statutory role of the commission’s regular Copyright Inspectors (CIs), in view of the inadequacy of the manpower and institutional presence of NCC across all the states of the Federation.
The Director-General stated that it was necessary to enlist all stakeholders in its renewed anti-piracy campaign, adding that the investiture of the board members as SCIs was the first phase of the initiative while other volunteer stakeholders with sound copyright knowledge and passion for development of the creative sector would also be invested as special copyright inspectors in due course.
He said considering that NCC currently has operational offices in only 14 states, the inauguration of SCIs as volunteers in support of the regular Copyright Inspectors would strengthen and spread the effectiveness of the enforcement interventions of NCC in the 36 states of the Federation.
Chairman of NCC Governing board, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, lauded the SCI initiative as a proactive measure geared at effective implementation of the Commission’s enforcement mandate in line with its enabling law.
Explaining the duties of SCIs, the NCC Director of Enforcement, Mr. Augustine Amodu, said the Copyright Act conferred a Copyright Inspector with Police powers of investigation, inspection, seizure, arrest and prosecution in enforcement of the Act.
The NCC Board members invested as SCIs along with the Chairman were Comrade Saliu Othman Isah; Dr. (Mrs) Alewai Jidai Mamza; Sir (Dr.) Jessey Odu; Mrs Maria Towo Austin-Odigie; Mr. Okon Udo-Udo Umoh; and Rev. Bayo Awala. Other Board members invested in absentia were Comptroller Mohammed Gagiyo, Mr. John Abang and Dr. Bongos Ikwue.
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