Nigeria loses billions in naira yearly to software and intellectual property pirates and the Federal Government is worried about the trend. In fact, government is concerned that if not checked, the activities of software and intellectual property pirates may lead to further economic loss for the country. At the moment, government estimates that it loses over N127 billion yearly to pirates, particularly to intellectual property pirates and it wants the trend discontinued. Although the present government has variously declared its resolve to reduce the menace of piracy, the recent decision by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to set up a Cybercrime Advisory Committee to ensure the total and effective implementation of the 2015 Cybercrime Act is seen by observers as a bold move to stem the tide.
At the inauguration of the committee in Abuja during the week, the NSA Mr. Babagana Mungunu revealed that apart from losing N127billion to cybercrime annually, Nigeria remains among countries with the highest rate of software piracy, intellectual property theft and malware attacks. The NSA also revealed that a report published in 2014 by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in the United Kingdom, estimates the annual cost of cybercrime to Nigeria at about 0.08 per cent of the nation’s GDP. “Activities of hackers and cyber criminals in recent times have threatened government presence, economic activities, securities of Nigerians and vital infrastruc”, ture connected to the internet, the he said.
He reiterated that the need to take serious action to protect Nigeria’s national cyber space has become a national security requirement, which is why the NSA said that government has found it expedient to set up an advisory committee to advice on best way to stem the menace of piracy, which include, hacking of websites of government entities and diplomatic missions. ‘’This situation is made possible partly due to lack of awareness of cyber security and poor enforcement of guidelines and minimum standards for security of government websites, particularly those hosting sensitive data bases of Nigerians,’’ he said.
It was when the NSA named the 31 member Advisory Committee, which he is to chair and also when he read out the committees’ terms of reference that it was clear that the committee’s brief would not cover intellectual property theft, which also requires urgent national attention, as it is the reason players in the Nigerian creative industry have continued to work as elephants and eat as ants. In fact, an observer believes that the creative industry has been the worse hit when it comes to the menace of piracy.
But the 31 member Advisory Committee which has the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami as member will be saddled with the “responsibility of ratifying issues on standards and legislation on terrorism penetrated through cyberspace, web hacking and defacement and distributed denial of service attacks among others”.
While expressing the hope that the committee will find a solution to cybercrime issues in the country, the Attorney General stressed that that a multi-stakeholder collaboration is the only viable way forward in fighting piracy and cybercrime. But, if collaboration as the Attorney General stated seem the only viable way forward in fighting piracy, stakeholders in the creative industry think that the Office of the NSA should forge a collaboration with the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, so that the effort to make the online and creative environment free of pirates can achieve the desired effect.
Since he assumed office as Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed has left no one in doubt about his resolve to work with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to tackle piracy since it impacts on the creative industry, which the Ministry of information and culture has supervisory responsibility over. At one of his now very regular interactions with stakeholders in the creative industry, the Minister had acknowledged that the issue of piracy in the creative industry particularly in the Nollywood industry has become a monstrous disincentive.
According to the Minister ‘’with what I have read and seen, it appears that piracy has almost killed the industry. You find unauthorized intellectual properties like films; books and paintings hawked in the open and sold a few days before the release of the original work. I am told that a recent study revealed that there are eight pirated works to two original works out of every ten works you find in the market. This is unacceptable and good enough we have the backing of Mr. President to fight the scourge’’.
Recalling that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier in the life of his government charged security agencies to tackle the menace, so that practitioners can recoup their investments and that way contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation, the Minister said; ‘’we shall work with the necessary agencies of government to activate that Presidential directive and revisit the issue of having the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Culture since we directly deal with matters that concern you’’.
Practitioners of the Nollywood industry have severally decried government decision to move the NCC to the Justice Ministry whereas it has always been under the Ministry of Culture since its formal establishment. They have maintained that the decision to move the NCC out of the culture ministry has caused a major disconnect between the industry and other sector of the arts. ‘’We will see how we can have that corrected,’’ the Minister assured, even as he reiterated that the Ministry of information and culture would work with the relevant agencies and Ministries to tackle the scourge.
Also, the Minister proposed a strategy for containing piracy, which observers say the 31 member advisory committee on cybercrime should incorporate in their implementation strategy. In the word of the Minister ‘’my immediate suggestion is for us to declare piracy an economic crime, have a regulatory direction, domesticate most of the international convention on piracy, review and strengthen existing copyright law, as well as make the punishment for copyright more stringent so as to discourage pirates. May be, a longer jail term with no option of fine and speedy trial as we have in other countries will help. I think also that the entertainment industry is too ripe to have a dedicated National Taskforce on Piracy. We truly need a proactive enforcement of the copyright law so as to make the creative industry lucrative’’.
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