NCC, NFVCB renew partnership on anti-piracy

508

Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) have committed to a renewed interagency collaboration to boost implementation of their respective mandates in the interest of the creative industry.

 

Director-General, NCC, Mr. John O. Asein and the Executive Director, NFVCB, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, 18 August 2020 when both agencies agreed to subscribe to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise their partnership for enhanced regulation, enforcement and awareness creation in the industry.

                                                                                                                                               

At a consultative meeting of both agencies during a courtesy visit of the Director-General of NCC to NFVCB Headquarters, the agencies consented to strengthening their partnership for enhanced intelligence sharing, antipiracy operations and manpower development.

 

The agencies agreed that in the renewal of their longstanding relationship, both agencies would respect their separate but complementary mandates and support each other to succeed in effective service delivery in line with the Federal Government’s development plan for the creative sector.

 

Noting that no agency could fight piracy alone, the Director-General of NCC called for more joint antipiracy and anti-counterfeiting operations as well as joint sensitisation exercises across the country. He indicated that the training arm of NCC, the Nigerian Copyright Institute (NCI), would be willing to offer training to staff of NFVCB and stakeholders in the film industry while NCC staff should also acquaint themselves with the work of the Censors Board.

 

Assuring that the Commission was disposed to assist the Board in the prosecution of its copyright related cases, the NCC DG pointed out that the Commission would also consider invoking the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act to support the hologram scheme that is being introduced by the NFVCB.

 

“Our synergy in checking piracy can only bring about a win-win situation in the film sector as there are legislative provisions empowering the NCC to prescribe anti-piracy devices such as the hologram making it an offence for anyone to counterfeit or be in unlawful custody of the hologram. The NCC will therefore deploy its statutory powers to ensure that government efforts in securing the integrity and viability of the creative industry are not thwarted by any unscrupulous elements”, he stated.

 

According to him, “The training arm of the Commission, the Nigerian Copyright Institute (NCI) is disposed to work with the Board’s training department to deepen knowledge in the industry and help operatives of both agencies to better understand the respective mandates of their two agencies to promote their joint operations”.

 

In his words, “We are both Government agencies with a common goal to better the lot of stakeholders, particularly investors in the creative industry. While respecting our separate institutional mandates, we must work together for the love of country and the good people of Nigeria. NCC will do everything to help NFVCB to succeed and I believe that NFVCB will also do the same for NCC. That is the unwritten rule that we should work by”, he stated.

 

In his remarks, Executive Director of NFVCB, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas assured of the Board’s commitment to improved collaboration with NCC and also agreed to the development of an MoU between the two agencies. He expressed optimism that this would enable both agencies to strengthen their operational bases and improve their service delivery in the interest of the creative industry. 

 

The Executive Director, who declared that all pirated copyright works were unclassified and uncensored, called for sustained anti-piracy interventions by both agencies. Noting that NFVCB lacked the power of prosecution directly, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas urged the NCC to assist the Board in its legal cases. He welcomed the proposal of the NCC DG for training of staff of both agencies to enhance their competence.

 

The Executive Director indicated that the NFVCB would consider measures to ensure proper rights clearance and copyright adherence, including demand for evidence of copyright registration, as a condition for film censorship. He informed the NCC officials that the Board would soon be implementing the new film policy which would, amongst other things, require film producers to belong to relevant professional bodies as part of the requirements for censorship.

 

A four-man committee drawn from the two agencies was set up with the responsibility to identify the areas for strengthening collaboration and draw up modalities for implementation.

 

Directors on the entourage of DG, NCC were Director of Regulatory, Mr. Augustine Amodu; Director, Nigerian Copyright Institute, Mr. Mike Akpan; Director Enforcement, Mr. Obi Ezeilo; Director Public Affairs, Mr. Vincent A. Oyefeso and Director of Prosecution, Mr. Emeka Ogbonna. The NFVCB Management team at the meeting were Director of Administration, Mrs. Chigozie Uwaezuoke; Director, Operations, Mrs. Bola Attar; Director, Planning, Research and Statistics I, Mrs. Deborah Malgwi; Director, PRS II, Mr. Ejike Joseph; Acting Director, Film Censorship and Classification, Mrs. Peace C. Ononobi; Deputy Director, Legal and Chief of Staff to the ED, Mr. Effiong Inwang; and Mrs. Joy Ossai Ogar of the Licensing and Documentation Department.

 

Kindly support the growth of journalism in Nigeria

Reactions to stories published can be sent to us at [email protected]


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *