In November of 2015, I announced that Nigeria had a revised draft of its Copyright Bill and was soliciting public comments. A little over two years later, its executive council has approved the bill. See news below.
-Ms. Uduak
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“The Nigerian Government has approved the recently prepared Copyright Bill. The decision was reached by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting presided over by the President in Abuja on Thursday, December 21, 2017.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the Federal Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN said that FEC has also directed him to forward the Bill (along with others) to the National Assembly for consideration and passage. Without going into details, he disclosed that the Copyright Bill seeks to enhance the rights of authors and protect creative works against piracy and other forms of abuses.
With this development, Government has rekindled the hope of stakeholders who have variously expressed concerns about the perceived delay in concluding work on the Draft Bill despite receiving their inputs and unanimous support. Recently, participants at the National Conference on Quality Education: Access and Rights Management in Nigeria, which was held in Lagos on November 27, 2017, had, amongst other things, observed that while the recent ratification of four copyright treaties by the Federal Government was commendable, there was need for the treaties to be domesticated through the speedy enactment of the Copyright Bill to benefit Nigerians. The Conference also called on concerned stakeholder groups to develop strong advocacy strategies and demand for the quick passage of the Bill…”
REPRONIG has the full story.
