Moses Uwagbale
The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks and other financial institutions to collatarise Intellectual Property (IP) works.
The Director General of the commission , Mr John Asien, stated in Abuja during the commemoration of the world Intellectual Property day themed “IP and SMEs: Taking your ideas to Market”.
He said that collatarising IP works would help the creative industry and creative talent to have value for their talents.
Asien added that financial institutions embracement to the collatarisation of IP would support SMEs in the creative sector and also enhance their contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
According to him, creating the right ambience will also help showcase the nation’s talents to the world in terms of music and movies, among others.
“We need to grow SMEs, encourage their works, protect and make their works assets bankable.
“Nigerian Copyright Commission owe the creative industry a duty to ensure and provide a safe corridor for the ideas to be good, nurtured and taken to the market.
“And in providing those safe corridors, we must also encourage them to use the facilities under the copyright system and exploit the licencing regime.
“We encourage them to get the value of licencing, use them and also the right owners to use the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) systems instead of going to court and get lockdown by the court system.
“They can use the ADR better and these are ways of helping them take their ideas to the market safely.
” The commission will also find a solution to any form of copyright to ensure that right owners are given the facilities needed to enable them create, grow ideas and exploit their ideas to compete favourably in the market place,” Asien said.
The director general reiterated the commitment of the commission in ensuring that people were sensitised and well informed.
He, however, advocated for collatarisation of IP stuffs to help the SMEs showcase their talent, move their ideas to the market, adding that is the value of intellectual property.
Asien therefore called on all and sundry to help grow the IP system in Nigeria in order to maximise its potential
The commission used the day to sensitise the public on copy right issues and how to shun pirated works.
