Lai Mohammed Endorses Use Of Barcode In Nigeria Movie & Music to Fight Piracy

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, has endorsed the use of barcode
in Nigerian movies and music as a measure to
protect intellectual properties from undue
exploitation.
The Minister, who was responding to a request
to that effect by the Caretaker Committee of the
Performing Musicians Employers Association of
Nigeria (PMAN) who paid him a courtesy visit in
his office in Abuja on Friday, advised the
Association to also liaise with the Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria (BON), the Nigerian
Copyright Commission (NCC) and other
regulatory bodies to ensure the success of the
new measure.
"You asked that we make a declaration making it
illegal for NTA, FRCN and other radio and
television stations from using any music or
movie, which is not barcoded...I think what we
should do is to work through the Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria (BON), NCC and other
regulatory bodies," he said.
Barcode is a machine-readable representation of
data, which provides information about the
objects that carry such codes. In the movie and
music industry, It can be used to separate
original works from fake ones, thus preventing
buyers as well as radio and television stations
from patronizing pirated works.
Alhaji Mohammed decried how trillions of Naira
are being lost through copyrights infringement
and stressed the need to re-invigorate
institutional structures to block areas of leakages
in order to rake in more revenue for the
government and also allow artistes to enjoy the
fruits of their labour.
He also enjoined players in the creative industry
to buy into the innovative ways the government
is employing to fight piracy through the Digital
Switch Over in broadcasting.
"I think you also have to buy into the new
digitization programme of the Federal
Government because that will be a more
effective way to fighting piracy than what we
have today...... When you release your work
online then there are no CDs to pirate. If I want
to buy I (must) pay and it comes straight to me,"
he remarked.
The Minister said another advantage of the
digital regime is the multiplicity of channels to
broadcast content, thereby creating more
demand for content.
He said the government is working to turn the
creative industry into a viable economy and
appealed for private sector investment in
production and post-production studios as a
deliberate effort to curb capital flight to
countries with hi-tech production infrastructure.
"If you can convince the private sector on the
viability of the creative industry, you are going to
see change. What the private sector needs are
figures, data and balance-sheet," said Alhaji
Mohammed.
The Minister also sought the support of PMAN
towards the National Re-orientation Campaign of
the Federal Government, tagged "Change Begins
with Me," which is to be launched soon, saying
creative artistes are influential members of the
society who can take the message of change in
attitude to the various strata of society.
He agreed to partner with PMAN to organise a
Creative Economy Conference with a view to
bringing on board all stakeholders to brainstorm
on the development of the industry.
In his remarks, the President of the Caretaker
Committee of PMAN, Mr. Pretty Okafor, said the
music industry is the biggest employer of labour
in Nigeria with over 12 million people gainfully
engaged.
Mr. Okafor said according to a recent study, the
nation's creativity industry is worth N15 trillion,
but that over N10 trillion is lost through national
and global piracy.
He said government stands to earn N3 trillion
annually in both Value Added Tax and taxable
income through the introduction of systematic
ways to track revenue accruing to the sector and
curbing piracy.