The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has partnered with the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) to strengthen the fight against cybercrime and online piracy in Nigeria.

John Asein, director-general of NCC, said this while addressing journalists at NIRA Lagos office on Tuesday.

Mr Asein expressed displeasure over the negative reputation Nigeria had acquired globally due to the prevalence of cybercrime, online piracy, and other digital offences committed both at home and abroad.

He said that the importance of collaborating with a reputable professional body like NIRA was to curb these growing digital threats.

He noted that such synergy would help sanitise cyberspace and improve Nigeria’s image internationally.

According to him, the creative, movie, and entertainment industries have continued to suffer significant economic losses as a result of persistent piracy and copyright infringement.

“The book publishers, authors, movie makers, and musicians are lamenting that pirates are depriving them of the benefits from their intellectual property,” he said.

He assured content creators, publishers, and entertainment practitioners that the NCC would continue to intensify enforcement and policy reforms to ensure that intellectual property rights are adequately protected and rewarded.

“You will reap from what you sow; your creative efforts will no longer be in vain,” Mr Asien assured authors and content creators

He said that the partnership aligns with the federal government’s commitment to promoting a knowledge-based economy driven by innovation, creativity, and respect for intellectual property rights.

Earlier, Adesola Akinsanya, president of NIRA, reaffirmed the association’s readiness to collaborate closely with the NCC to tackle online piracy and other cyber-related crimes.

Mr Akinsanya noted that NIRA would deploy its technical expertise and digital monitoring tools to identify and take down websites involved in piracy, thereby strengthening Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

He further called for continuous public enlightenment and stakeholder engagement to educate internet users, domain name registrars, and digital content distributors on the importance of intellectual property protection.

He said that the association would operate in line with international best practices to tackle online piracy operations.

Mr Akinsanya said that the association would need to collaborate with NCC to share useful information, capacity-building to be aware of the latest trends and responsible usage of the internet.

He added that the collaboration would birth joint protection of Nigeria’s creative assets online, digital copyright protection, a domain watchlist, and policy synergy.

“Also, joint public enlightenment, training on capacity building and many other strategies deployed to combat cybercrime and online piracy,” he said.

(NAN)