Prof. Animi Silvanus-Pepple, Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), has called for the review of the extant Copyright Act, to empower the commission to address emerging copyright related issues.
Silvanus-Pepple, who made the call in Abuja, on Sunday said that the current Act was made in 1988 when online works were not in existence.
According to her, if the Copyright Act was reviewed by the National Assembly, a lot would be gained from the new law.
“One, we have said that the current law was made in 1988 when we operated in the physical space. Then, online and digital things were almost non-existent.
“But, now the bulk of these works we are talking about, literary, music are online. We all go online, we go to Youtube, Facebook and others.
“These peoples’ works are being put out there without any regard to copyright issues. So, this new bill will incorporate such digital issues,’’ the NCC chairman said.
If signed into law, she added, it would have the power to work within the digital space and, since most works are in the digital space, there would be more protection.
“This Act really is going to do a lot even for the physical space. I believe that there will also be improvement on the provisions of the law to tackle issues that emerged since it was passed in 1988.
“Besides, ordinarily, laws should be reviewed periodically. This law has been on for too long, even without these issues it is overripe for review not to talk of when you have all these issues.
“In fact, it is going to solve some of the problems we are presently having,’’ Silvanus-Pepple said.
The NCC chairman drew the attention of the National Assembly to understand that the law was not for a few persons, but for the entire country.
“Secondly, the lawmakers should understand that this Act has potential to boost the economy.
“I think sometimes ago, we are talking about the contributions of the creative industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is very high.
“It is also a high employer of labour because of the number of people who are engaged in all literary and music works.
“So, it will boost the economy, open space for more people to be employed and make sure that revenues accruable to these people will come to them.
“Once that is done, the economy is better for us because there will be more activities in other sectors of the economy. There will be more purchasing power for citizens, which will further boost the economy.
“So, there will be lot to be gained. Our advice is that there is need to understand what this Act intends to gain and then give it the priority that is required,’’ she said.
