ACTIVITIES marking the golden jubilee anniversary of Evans brothers (Nigerian Publishers) Limited climaxed, on Tuesday, with publishers bemoaning inconsistent government policies, piracy, high cost of book production as hurting the publishing industry.
Especially, a former president of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Wale Okediran, who was guest speaker, at the occasion, advanced the need for government to deal with piracy the same way it dealt with people involved in hard drugs.
Speaking at the event held at Premier Hotel, Ibadan, Okediran, represented by a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Professor Remi Raji, also lamented that publishers had to grapple to challenges that included scarcity of foreign exchange, import restrictions, shortage of skilled manpower and unauthorised use of copyrighted works.
For publishers to survive in today’s environment, Okediran recommended the removal of import restrictions, resuscitation of paper mill industries, subsidies for publishing industries, and emphasis of stakeholders in the education sector on creating functional libraries and book clubs.
“The government needs to deal with piracy headlong just the same way you will deal with people who deal in hard drugs. One way to tackle piracy is for government to activate the policy against piracy. The Nigerian Copyright Commission should be more alive to its duties.
“It is not easy to deal with a cartel who are hell bent on stealing the intellectual rights of others, of destroying the future of the nation by selling books that are not well published and sold with 30 per cent rebate because all they want is profit and not the quality of the paper. We need to watch illegal importation and illegal exportation of books.”
“It is also important to have a policing system that gets all the publishers in the country registered. There are several printing houses that serve as conduits for the production of pirated books which needs to be checked,” Okediran said.
Similarly, Chairman, Board of Directors, Evans brothers (Nigerian Publishers) Limited, Chief Ojora Adekunle, decried piracy, unauthorised use of copyrighted works and the electronic media as really challenging the sustenance of publishing industry.
Managing Director of the company, Mr Lukman Dauda, called for robust government policies that would enable a flourishing publishing industry.
“We sell our books on credit, have to beg to sell our books and have to prostrate to get our money,” Dauda said.
Some members of staff awarded for their long service to the company were Mrs Adedoyin Adeyemi, Mrs Abimbola Areola, Mr Samson Fabode, Mr Morayo Akintomide, Mr Emmanuel Iwunze and Mrs Lovina Eze.