Following the rising spate of piracy in the country, coupled with its socio-economic effect on the intellectual works of original copyright owners, academics at the Lagos State University-Adebola Adegunwa School of Communication (LASUAASOC), Surulere, have blamed poverty, weak laws amongst others, as factors that encourage piracy in Nigeria.
Present at the recently held 3rd monthly Departmental Lecture Series of the faculty were Prof. Lai Oso, Dean of the Faculty, Mr. Jacob Adeoye, Sub-Dean; Mr. Olujimi Kayode, Head, Department of Journalism; Dr. Yinka Alawode, Head, Department of Broadcasting; Dr. Yakubu Awodele, Head, Department of Public Relations/Advertising; Dr. Muyiwa Ajaga, lecturer at the Department of Journalism; Mrs. Omolade Atofojomo, lecturer at the Department of Broadcasting and other teaching and non-teaching staff of the faculty.
Dr. Ridwan Adeyemi, the guest lecturer, who presented a 34-page paper entitled; Video Piracy in Nigeria, took a critical examination of the causes and factors responsible for video piracy in Nigeria, using in-depth interview, critical analysis of document, triangulation and diffusion of innovation as the theoretical framework.
Earlier, the Dean, Prof. Lai Oso averred that the seminar serves as a platform for lecturers to embark on academic research, debating on the findings of the research, in order to acquire and share knowledge on that particular topic. He further added that the faculty will soon commence the publishing of its own academic journal.
Meanwhile, in his paper, Dr. Adeyemi disclosed that "some socio-economic factors such as the urge to make good money, greed as characterized by high poverty rate, make people succumb to piracy. Moreso, Nigerian laws are weak concerning piracy and there is no active law enforcement agency. Even the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is not helping matters and piracy has come to stay in Nigeria but can only be reduced."
On her part, Mrs. Omolade Atofojomo blamed buyers for the rise in rate of piracy in the country. She said; "A lot of awareness has been created on radio about piracy, yet people still go for it and the working class tends to subscribe more to piracy," adding, "people don't feel guilty about piracy and are not ready to pay for the original."
She, however, opined that members of the academia have a lot to do towards reducing incidences of piracy, noting that "our problem is basically not that of the will of the government, as even the citizenry will regard as harsh governance, when the enforcers of piracy laws are being strict in the enforcement of the laws in the country."
Lauding the guest lecturer for a job well done, the Dean of the faculty who was on the same page with Adeyemi said piracy has over the years reared its ugly head in the country, owing to the socio-economic situation. Blaming piracy on poverty, Oso noted that "poverty has given room for corruption and the proliferation of fake production of intellectual works."
