Piracy: Ex Deputy Senate President, Ekweremadu commends NPA, NCC
By Ogundele Olanrewaju
The Former Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu has commended the Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) and the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for their efforts at promoting and protecting the book, as well as stemming the tide of book piracy in our society.
This is contained in a release made available to newsmen by the National Executive Secretary of NPA, Mr Emmanuel Abimbola on Thursday.
Ekweremadu said this over the weekend September 11, 2021 when he hosted the delegates of the Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) to a dinner at his residence in Enugu.
Ekweremadu had earlier on the same day attended a reception organized in honour of the President of NPA, Hon. (Chief) Uchenna Cyril Anioke.
The reception was organised for Hon. Anioke by his media friends for winning the election as NPA President.
The NPA President spoke on a number of issues with the former Deputy Senate President, particularly on bringing back the reading culture through the help of the government.
While speaking at the dinner, the Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Dr. J. O. Asein urged Senator Ekweremadu to support the Copyright Commission by giving necessary push to the Copyright Repeal Bill recently submitted to the National Assembly.
Dr. Asein commended the efforts of the Federal Government at protecting copyright and other intellectual properties (IP) in Nigeria.
He mentioned the huge investment of the government in fighting piracy across the country.
However, he said the last amendment to the copyright bill in Nigeria was done in 1999, hence the reason for a quick passage of the current bill into law so as to address the so many challenges confronting copyright and IP in Nigeria.
In his response, Ekweremadu then promised to support the Commission and the publishing sector with the necessary push for the realization of a new Copyright Bill.
The Senator, who is also an author, autographed of one of his books, “Who Will Love My County: Ideas for Building the Nigeria of Our Dreams” as a parting gift to all the delegates.
The delegates at the dinner hosted by Senator Ike Ekweremadu were the Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John O. Asein; the NPA delegates at the dinner were the President NPA, Hon. Uchenna Anioke; the immediate past president, Mr. Gbadega Adedapo.
Others were Mr. Henry Idogun; Alh. Tahir Abdulaziz; Mr. Dare Oluwatuyi, as well as the Executive Secretary of the Association, Mr. Emmanuel A. Abimbola.
