The Ondo State government has vowed to take a firm stance against book piracy in public and private schools in the state as schools are set to resume for a new session.
Commissioner for Education, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun made this known during a courtesy call by the State coordinator for the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to his office.
He described book piracy as a serious offense, emphasizing that it harms the authors who invest significant effort, funds, and energy into creating their work, while those who contribute nothing reap the benefits.
Prof. Ajibefun therefore issued a note of warning to public and private school in the state including the bookshops selling pirated works to fully desist as the government is bringing up strategies to combat the menace.
He announced his support to stop the works of book pirates in the state stating that the state would work together with the National Copyright Commission and security Agencies to move round schools to raid.
In his words” as we sanitize the education sector in the state we should also address the issue of book piration. We will come up with strategies to combat this menace in our state as soon as possible”.
He therefore advised schools, parents, booksellers to always purchase their books from authentic publishers to avoid any embarrassment.
In her remarks, the South-west State Coordinator for Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mrs Oluropo Oke, described copyright as a exclusive right granted to an author, artist, writer, musician, photographer and architect by law to exploit and authorize the exploitation of their work
She explained that the NCC is empowered by law to enter, inspect and examine building, premises, schools once they suspect infringement activities.
