The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has received the 2025 NG Digital Trust Anti-Piracy Champion Award from the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Nigerian Registry for the country’s top-level domain.

The Director-General of the NCC, Dr John Asein,  disclosed this in a statement by the commission’s Director, Public Affairs, Ijeoma Egbunike in Abuja on Friday.

According to Mr Asein, the award recognises NCC’s notable leadership and commitment in combating online piracy, strengthening digital trust and promoting responsible use of the .ng domain name space.

He appreciated NiRA for the honour, adding that the recognition reinforced NCC’s commitment to securing Nigeria’s digital environment and ensuring that the .ng domain remains a trusted platform for creativity, innovation and equitable reward.

“The NCC will continue to collaborate closely with NiRA and other stakeholders to intensify anti-piracy efforts and enhance confidence in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem in support of the creative economy,” he said.

He stated that a strengthened cooperation with NiRA would boost right holder’s protection, curb harmful online activities and foster lawful digital entrepreneurship nationwide.

The NCC boss also said plans were ongoing to deepen DNS-Ievel interventions, improve compliance by digital intermediaries and promote responsible online behaviour in line with global best practices

Mr Asein called on stakeholders to support the commission’s efforts.

He said that enhancing trust in the .ng domain was a central component of Nigeria’s digital transformation strategy, and critical to the sustainable development of the creative sector.

Also speaking, President of NIRA, Adesola Akinsanya, commended NCC’s consistent leadership and commitment to online copyright enforcement and acknowledged the DG’s proactive initiatives.

Mr Akinsanya said that the award intended to encourage the commission to sustain and expand its efforts, and praised the value of NCC’s interventions and promoting a safer digital space.

On future collaboration, the NIRA president emphasised the importance of continued
partnership between both organisations.

He said that NiRA’s recent suspension of several illegal domains hosting unauthorised copyright content was enabled by data provided by the NCC.

Mr Akinsanya said that this marked the beginning of deeper joint initiatives to secure Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

“Following the commission’s renewed onslaught against online piracy and in collaboration with NIRA, it recently secured the suspension of a notorious pirate site Movie box.ng and other .ng domains involved in major online piracy,” he said. 

(NAN)