NCC Seizes N300m Worth of Counterfeit Books at Onne Port

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has made a significant stride in combating intellectual property piracy by seizing three shipping containers of pirated books with a conservative market value of over N300 million.

In a press statement released on Sunday, Dr. John Asein, the Director-General of the Commission, revealed that this milestone was achieved through a joint effort with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Department of State Services (DSS), which helped intercept the containers at Onne Port in Rivers State.

The DG disclosed that the pirated books confiscated by the NCC were copyrighted works belonging to prominent Nigerian publishers, including Africana First, Bounty Press, Evans, Learn Africa, Macmillan, Metropolitan, and University Press Plc. Dr. Asein highlights the crucial role of the Commission in safeguarding the intellectual property rights of Nigerian publishers and protecting their works from illegal reproduction and circulation.

“Our main headache used to be with locally printed books which are easy to identify due to their poor production quality.

“But, we have since seen a surge in the importation of pirated books, especially from Asia with good quality, competing with their originals.

“Many of these pirates, who are agents of foreign printers, now have the audacity to come into Nigeria to scout for businesses.

“Sometimes, they share lists of their pirated stock with prospective customers in Nigeria through rogue networks.

“In some cases, the imports are compromised, and the documentation doctored to deceive enforcement agencies,” he said.