Piracy
Nigeria music icon, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as Tuface, has urged Nigerians to shun pirated intellectual materials, just like adulterated drugs.
``If pirated copyright materials do
not have people to buy them, they will stay on the shop shelves and the shops
will eventually close.
``But if we continue to patronise
them, the pirates will continue to sell,’’ Idibia said in Lagos.
He also implored the government and
agencies saddled with the enforcement of anti-piracy laws, to be decisive in
the clamp down on culprits.
``They are criminals, just like the
thieves we catch on the streets,” he said.
According to him, the agencies
should go all out and eliminate piracy as no crime syndicate should be stronger
than the government.
``We know that it cannot be wiped
out in one day, it will take time, but we all should come on board and start on
the right path.
`` To be honest with you, corruption
is the reason why piracy is still a major issue in Nigeria.
``If radio stations are not paying
royalties, government should know that they are losing a lot. They should help
artistes get royalties, so that we can also pay tax for the nation’s
development.
`` If the government knows that
these artistes have to pay heavy taxes and they are going to make a lot of
money from collecting these taxes, they will do something,” he said.
Idibia expressed disappointment that
the police could not see people who sell pirated compact discs and other
copyright materials as criminals.
``If you complain, the police will
look at you, just like you want to deny these boys of their means of
livelihood. They do not even know it’s a crime, and it is a punishable offence;
so, it is a serious issue,” he said.
Idibia said that his desire was to
see the return of high quality music to Nigeria in terms of production and its
packaging.
``When this happens and you sell it
for the appropriate price, we will be able to make more money and be able to
compete with our counterparts in other parts of the world.”
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