Mr Chinedu Chukwuji, the General Manager of COSON, told reporters that such penalties would show the Federal Government’s resolve to fight crime and enforce laws.
Chukwuji said that although there had been continued improvement in the industry, government needed to strengthen the enforcement arm of the Nigeria Copyright Commission to tackle piracy.
He said that this would curb the boldness with which people went about infringing on the rights of creators.
He noted that the industry had produced great talents out of persons who would have been agents of mischief in the society, hence, the need to improve on its structure.
According to Chukwuji, copyright infringement and piracy have cost the industry and the Nigeria economy huge sums of money.
He noted that it had ended the career of many artists who could not carry on their work as they did not get return on their investments.
He explained that as a result of the effect of piracy, many international recording companies had left the country and many new ones were afraid to invest in the sector.
He said that this development was a loss of revenue for the government in form of foreign direct investment and taxes.
Chukwuji said that the country had been losing in terms of job creation and technology transfer.
He said COSON was making concerted efforts to assist artists to realise their dreams of living a better life by getting a return on their investment.
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