The Alake and Paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo on Tuesday urged the book sellers in Abeokuta and its environs to desist from buying and selling of pirated books describing piracy as evil and and act of economic sabotage.
Oba Gbadebo said that Egbaland has always been a model and cradle of civilisation and should therefore not be tainted as where the criminal acts of piracy is thriving.
The royal father made this call during the public sensitization and engagement organised by the Nigerian Copyrights Commission for the publishers and the book sellers in Ogun State.
The engagement was held at Sapon, Abeokuta.
Oba Gbadebo said he was not quite pleasing with the recent reports of some booksellers arrested in the state for allegedly selling pirated books.
The paramount ruler who was represented by the Iyaloja of Egbaland, Alhaja Oluwakemi Oloyede said that "We have all heard from our people from NCC on the evil of piracy and the rules guiding selling of books.
"I hereby don't want to hear reports of any of you selling pirated books again..I want all of you to always liase with the publishers to get your books so that you don't fall victims of the law of the land.
"Egbaland is known for civilisation, the first government, Egba United Nation was from here so we have always been model for others to emulate. I beseech you all to do your business in accordance to the rules so that everyone will be happy and our country will move forward".
Oba Gbadebo called for a more stronger relationship among the publishers, the book sellers and the NCC.
The royal father said that such regular engagement and interaction will help to enlighten the book sellers while it will also provide a platform for all the stakeholders to share knowledge, experience, challenges and find a way to resolve the grey areas and move forward.
Speaking earlier, the Director General of NCC, Dr John Asein said that the engagement was to let the members of the public, particularly, the book sellers to see reason why they have to cooperate with the Federal Government to fight piracy to standstill.
Dr Asein, represented by Mrs Oluropo Oke, State Coordinator from Ibadan NCC Zonal Office, while addressing the gathering, urged them to steer clear of buying and selling pirated books as it is against the copyright act of 2022 as amended.
The DG said "acts of piracy is evil and detrimental to the development of our nation. It rubs people of reaping where they sowed, it causes unemployment because many publishing outfits have collapsed because they were not getting returns for their investment. It is corruption and theft of what others have laboured for but the government is saying enough is enough.
"We all must join hands to fight this evil if we want our nation to be great. It is on this note that I beg you all to adhere to the laws because the penalties as stipulated is five years imprisonment for anyone found culpable while such a person will also be asked to pay N10,000 per copy of pirated book found with him or her".
Dr Asein told the book sellers to always buy their books from the publishers and keep their receipts which they can always show the NCC whenever they call at their shops.
The DG said he had taken notice of some of the complaints of the booksellers and would definitely work on them for a more productive partnership.
One of the booksellers, Mrs Abiodun Olufowobi urged the NCC to prevail on the publishers to stop supplying their books to schools saying that this is counterproductive to their business.
Mrs Olufowobi also called on the publishers to always make their books available for the book sellers saying that the gap created by the refusal of some publishers to supply their books can also encourage sourcing of these books from any other place
Speaking with journalists at the event, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Publishers Association, Emmanuel Abimbola lauded the NCC for spearheading the sensitisation saying that it is one vital way to combat the menace of piracy.
Abimbola described piracy as very cancerous causing untold hardship for the creative industry adding that "public engagement such as the one we just had with the book sellers in Abeokuta is the way to go.
"If they are claiming of not been aware of copyright rights laws and the penalties, now they are very well aware and we hope that things will begin to look good for all of us in the industry".
Meanwhile, the NCC at the event announced the unsealing of some bookshops sealed last month while owners of the shops were made to sign undertaking not to ever get involved in piracy in any form.
Recall that the NCC had last week also stormed some schools in Sagamu and confiscated some pirated books while a suspect was arrested.
This was sequel to the raid the anti-piracy organisation conducted in Ota and Sapon, Abeokuta in September during when some shops were sealed while eight booksellers were equally arrested for selling pirated books.
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