The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has established a Copyright and Creativity Club at the Government Senior College, Ikoyi, Lagos State. The event featured the induction of students and teachers into the club as well as lectures on the Basics of Copyright, copyright-based poems and songs.

Speaking during the launch of the club, the Director of NCC Lagos Office, Mr. Matthew Ojo, who represented the Director-General, Dr. John Asein, said that establishing the clubs in secondary schools became necessary in order to enlighten the students on the laws guiding copyright and the punishment for piracy.

“The aspiration of the Director-General is that we launch the programme across the nation so that more secondary schools will have the opportunity to be introduced to the essence of copyright at the early stage,” he said.

According to hum, “The expectation is that from the beginning, the students would have been inculcated with the idea of what copyright is, how copyright is protected and what are embedded in copyright. The students will be exposed to the basics of copyright and the Copyright Act.”

The Director further explained: “The idea of launching the Copyright and Creativity Club in secondary schools is that we want to catch them young. The message to the public is that we all at any stage need an understanding of what copyright is, so that we would respect the creativity of others.”

Mr. Ojo noted that the prevalence of piracy in the country was borne out of ignorance of the principles of copyright, “but with this concept of Copyright Club, students are given the opportunity when they are still very young, to know what copyright is and why they need to respect copyright. By doing that, the larger society will benefit more from reducing the tide of piracy in Nigeria”.

While delivering a lecture on the Basics of Copyright, the Deputy Director and Head of Legal Department of the Commission’s Lagos Office, Mrs. Linda Alpheus said that the Copyright and Creativity Clubs were being established to create anti-piracy awareness among the young and future generations in the country. She added that the clubs would motivate students to imbibe the spirit of creativity and how to make a living off it.

According to her, the essence of the Copyright and Creativity Club was to integrate the students into the Commission’s advocacy and public enlightenment programmes.

“We intend to go round all the public and private schools in the state and also move to other states, because it is a nationwide programme,’’ she said.

The Deputy Director said that the clubs would motivate students to use their imagination or their original ideas to create something new and to also know their intellectual property rights.

“The Copyright and Creativity Club is a programme we have put together to bring children of like minds together. We will coach them on their innate talents like writing, scripting, sound recording, literary and artworks, singing, broadcasting and cinematography, and how they can protect their intellectual property rights,” she stated.

Mrs Alphaeus noted that one of the Commission’s objectives “is to enlighten Nigerians on the ills of pirating people’s intellectual property and the punishment for such offences”.

She said that the Commission would ensure that “Nigerians give proper attention and support to anti-piracy campaign in the country’’.

In her response, Miss Titiloluwa Oye, an S.S.S. 3 science student, commended the Commission for establishing a Copyright Club in the school and promised to join the club and preach the gospel of anti-piracy to her friends.

“Piracy is an illegal act and punishable by law, I am well enlightened now and I will ensure that I discourage my colleagues from indulging in piracy acts”, she stated.

Earlier in his address, Mr. Olatunbosun Taofeeq, a writer and representative of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), had urged the students to be creative and explore their innate talent for self-reliance. He supported the establishment of the Copyright Club in the school with the sum of N50,000 and copies of his published materials.

Highlights of the event include the induction of the Vice Principal of Government Senior College, Ikoyi, Mrs. Ajagbe as the Matron of Copyright and Creativity Club of the school while Mr. Alebiosu, a teacher in the school was inducted as the Coordinator of the club. About 52 students of the school were also inducted into the club.