By PRISCILLA OSAJE

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has confiscated several cartons of pirated literary works with street value worth N7 million at the popular Garki market in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).

Mrs Ijeoma Egbunike, the commission’s Director of Public Affairs, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

According to the statement, Mr Femi Ajala, Director of Operation of NCC, who led the enforcement team, said the raid is part of the commission’s renewed campaign against piracy.

He said the team was able to achieve its goal with the support of armed police personnel from the FCT Command.

“Acting on credible intelligence, regarding the suspected storage and distribution of pirated books, we were able to move into the location.

“We discovered a substantial quantity of books suspected to have been reproduced and distributed without the authorisation of the respective copyright owners.

“We gained access to the store, seized and evacuated several cartons and bags of suspected infringing publications and subsequently sealed the premises,” he said.

Ajala added that the successful raid was part of NCC’s intelligence-driven approach to disrupting copyright piracy and protecting the legitimate interests of authors, publishers and other right owners.

While reiterating the commission’s zero-tolerance stance against piracy, the director of operation stressed that it remained a serious threat to Nigeria’s creative and publishing industries.

According to him, the illicit business deprives legitimate right owners of income from their works, and undermine continued investment in creativity and publishing.

“The operation was intelligence-driven. We received information about the location and acted on that intelligence.

“The volume of books recovered which worth N7 million shows the seriousness of the situation and the need for sustained enforcement,” he added.

He further explained that the commission would not relent in tracking down those involved in illegal reproduction, distribution and commercial exploitation of copyrighted works.

“The Commission will continue to disrupt piracy activities and investigate all those involved,” he said.

Ajala assured that further investigation would commence immediately to establish the ownership, source, distribution network and other circumstances surrounding the seized publications.

According to him, the investigation will be carried out with a view to identifying those responsible and ensuring that they face the full weight of the law.

He further warned pirates and other persons engaged in the commercial exploitation of copyrighted works without the requisite authorisation, that the commission would continue to deploy its enforcement operations to disrupt their activities.

He emphasised that the fight against book piracy was not merely an enforcement issue, but a critical intervention to protect Nigeria’s authors, publishers, researchers, educators and the wider creative economy.

He, therefore, urged members of the public, right owners, publishers and other stakeholders to always provide relevant information that could assist the commission in identifying and disrupting piracy networks.

According to the commission, some of the books titles seized during the raid include; ‘Purple Hibiscus’, ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’, ‘New General Mathematics for Senior and Junior Secondary Schools 1,2 and 3’, ‘Stan Basic Science and Technology for Primary School’, ‘Work Book 3’, ‘Lantern , Steps to Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning 3’.

Others included ‘Classic Basic Technology for Junior Secondary Schools 3’, ‘Active Basic Science and Technology for Junior Secondary Schools and Work Book 2’, ‘Queen Primer’, ‘Royal School Series Part 1’, ‘WABP Physical and Health Education for Primary Schools 1 and 4’.

Other seized titles included ‘Learn Mathematics 5’; ‘New School Physics for Senior Secondary Schools’, ‘MacMillan Champion Primary Mathematics 3 and 4’, ‘Tonad’, ‘Essential Commerce for Senior Secondary Schools’, among others. (NAN)