From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate has passed for second reading, a Bill which seeks to strengthen the copy rights administration in Nigeria and to provide penalties to serve as deterrent.  
The Bill tagged: “Copyright Act repeal and re-enactment Bill, 2021″, was sponsored by Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, seeks holistic review of the policy and legal framework for copyright protection in Nigeria.
Abiru in his lead debate, said the Bill seeks, among others, to bring the Copyright Act in tandem with current realities.
“He said: “To strengthen the copyright regime in Nigeria to enhance the competitiveness of its creative industries in a digital and knowledge-based global economy.
“Effectively protect the rights of authors to ensure just rewards and recognition for their intellectual efforts while also providing appropriate limitations and exceptions to guarantee access to creative works, encourage cultural interchange and advance public welfare.
“Facilitate Nigeria’s compliance with obligations arising from relevant international copyright treaties; and
“Enhance the capacity of the Nigerian Copyright Commission for effective administration and enforcement of the provisions of the Copyright Act.”
He said that the amendments being sought would make the law more friendly, offer a dispute resolution mechanism, increase the penalties for copyright infringement and make online/digital reproduction an infringement.
He added that the amendment would expand the bundle of rights of copyright holders, make dealing in equipment that circumvent “anti-copying technology” an offence and expand customs notice prohibition against the importation of infringing copies of literary, dramatic and musical works to infringing copies of all other works.
He said it would also prohibit exporting of infringing works and enable internet and telecommunication service providers (ISPs) to remove or disable access to infringing content or links to for ISPs to have rights to deal with recalcitrant offenders on their sites and platforms.
Abiru noted that Nigerian creative industries such as nollywood and broadcasting, music, fashion, book publishing, art and Nigeria’s emerging software and Apps industry, have been emaciated by a weak Copyright Act, 1988 (as amended).
The Lagos East lawmaker insisted that for any nation to progress economically, it must not play down the development of its intellectual resources.
“The only way to ensure the protection of original intellectual works is by tightening the legal provisions for the safeguard of copyright products and especially, liberalizing provisions in the extant copyright laws of the country to be able to accommodate products derived from the rapidly growing technology in the world.
“In Nigeria, the position of the country as Africa’s largest market for copyrighted works has given us a bad name in the international community as the major hub of the global digital and software piracy. The passage of this Bill into law will correct this,” he said.
The lawmakers approved that the Bill be read a second time when it was put to voice vote by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.