Publishers lament challenges posed by piracy, poor power supply

Book publishers in Nigeria have again lamented the activities of book pirates and the poor power supply in the country, saying the two issues had remained their major challenges year-in, year-out.

The President\Chairman-in-Council of the Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), Mr Gbadega Adedapo, made the remark in Lagos in his welcome address to participants during the 2018 annual conference and general meeting of the association, held in Ikeja, Lagos State recently.

According to the NPA boss, the issue of piracy, which has gone international, such that published books are now taken abroad for mass production without the consent of the owners, and the issue of poor power supply, were increasingly affecting the book publishing industry in the country, and if concrete steps were not taken fast, the industry might go into extinction.

Adedapo said: “Other areas that require urgent and drastic attention for workable solution, especially from government are the lack of enabling environment to operate a publishing business, high tariff on printing materials, high cost of borrowing from banks, among other challenges.”

He, however, promised that the book industry would continue to contribute meaningfully to the development of education and national integration in the country.

In his own remark, the chairman on the occasion and executive secretary, National Educational Research Development Council (NERDC), Professor Ismail Junaidu, said the council appreciated the efforts and contributions of NPA members in the education sector and in national development, saying that his agency would always give its support towards making their operations profitable.

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He said NERDC was ready to chart a new course with the association and also with other stakeholders by ensuring that school curricula are reviewed within five years interval to reflect global economy needs.

Professor Junaidu also said he was of the opinion that licensing of book sellers, just like publishers, would help in tackling the problem of piracy in the country, while urging publishers to engage the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in helping the industry curb importation of pirated books into the country.

While delivering a keynote address on “The book: An instrument for national integration,” which was the theme of the programme, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Osun State University, Osogbo, Mallam Yusuf Ali, urged writers to publish more books that would promote honesty, peace, hardwork, unity, respect for constituted authorities, patriotism, among other positive virtues in the country.

He said that was the only way to promote national integration which the country needs to achieve economic prosperity, especially at this time when terror attacks and ethno-religion crises are rampant.

While lamenting the dwindling reading culture, especially among young adults,  Mallam Ali, represented by Mr. Hassan Fajimite, enjoined schools to bring back literary and debating societies, saying such would help boost students’ reading habit, which would then boost the book publishing sector in the country.