Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 — 21
the Ribadu-led committee was quoted as recoverable payments from International Oil Companies (IOCs), adding that the recovered funds will help in the development of the country. He called on the relevant bodies to curb the high propensity for borrowing from abroad, except from Internaclaims of refineries and ensure the years ago to the National Assembly. tional Institutional Lenders such as speedy passage and signing into law Ajayi said government should be IMF, ADB, World Bank, IFC, etc, only of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), determined to recover by legal means for specific developmental projects and which was first submitted about six funds such as the US$29 billion, which accelerate payment of local debts owed indigenous businesses to enable expand, generate wealth and create jobs. This, he said, is only fair if treated with same attitude shown in collecting debts owed Governments. On the issue of power, he said the cost of electricity has become intolerable as the bills have gone high despite the fact that power is not constant. “You can say that the cost of electricity must go up, but that is when the electricity is constant, when you don’t need your private generators, then you can say the price is reasonable, but when you spend so much on elecFrom left: Dr Ogochukwu Promise, CEO, Lumina Foundation; Mrs Francesca Emmanuel, tricity and also spend Chairman; Mr Dele Alabi, Executive Director, Finance and Risk, Ecobank; Mr Kingsley so much on fuel or dieAigbokhaevbo, Executive Director, Domestic and Mr Nabi Ouedraog, Ecobank Foundation sel then it is not cheap during a donation of N16.485 million as education support to Lumina Foundation as part or reasonable” he of Ecobank CSR initiatives, in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele. stated.
Sell off or privatise current local refineries, NACCIMA urges FG BY NAOMI UZOR
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HE Nigerian Association of Cham bers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Saturday, urged the Federal Government to sell off or privatise the current local refineries in the country while encouraging new private refineries to be setup. In a parley with pressmen on the New Year press statement on the national economy, the President of NACCIMA, Dr. Ademola Ajayi, said the Federal Government and relevant bodies involved such as NNPC, NIPC BPE, etc should sell off or privatise the current local refineries in the country while encouraging new private refineries to be setup. “ We need to remind Government that there is hope for a positive turnaround for Nigeria in 2013. This is because our association believes in dialogues, partnerships and cooperation without dereliction of our duty to call to attention and where ever and whatever is unfavourable to the economy and to profitability of businesses” he said He said there is need to avoid fuel price increase and meanwhile, compile actual quantities sold through petrol station pumps and do all that would enable us to compare with total
NCC impounds N4.38bn pirated goods … Secures 29 convictions BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE
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HE Nigerian Copyright Commis sion (NCC), says it prosecuted 31 copyright cases in 2012, 26 of which were criminal convictions of pirates and five civil suits. Director-General of NCC, Mr. Afam Ezekude who disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja, also revealed that the Commission, during intensified anti-piracy operations last year, arrested a total of 85 suspected pirates and confiscated 3,621,787 million units of pirated goods worth about N4.38 billion (N4,379,431,000.00). Mr. Ezekude said the commission, between July 2011 and December 2012, was able secure 29 convictions of pirates of copyright-protected books, musical and movie works, broadcast signals and software products, saying that the number of convictions shows a phenomenal increase from 10 convictions recorded by the Commission in 10 years, between 2000 and 2010. “This feat which had never been recorded in the 22 years of the Commission can be traced to the enhanced surveillance activities of the Commission’s operatives, support of stakeholders, and more importantly, our synergy with the Nigerian Customs Service under our Inter-Agency collaboration initiative”, he stated. The Director-General also revealed that the inter-agency partnership between the Commission and the Nigeria Customs has engendered the establishment of a protocol which makes
it mandatory for any importer of copyright-protected goods to obtain a letter of clearance from the Commission as a condition for clearance and release of such regulated goods by the Customs. He noted that the high point of the Commission’s enforcement measures in collaboration with the Customs was the historic and unprecedented confiscation of a total of 13 containers of 3.6 million 3,613,315 units of pirated products, valued at four billion, seven hundred and fifty million Naira (N4.75 billion) at different seaports in the country. He pointed out that 11 of the containers were loaded with pirated books of Nigerian and foreign authors while the remaining two were loaded with pirated musical and film works of local and foreign titles. The Director-General stated that on January 25, 2012 in Epe, Lagos State, the Commission also destroyed by public burning 722 million units of various categories of copyright infringing products impounded between 2007 and 2011, estimated at N6.5 billion. ”The essence of the exercise was to ensure that the materials are permanently prevented from entering into the channels of trade; and also send a warning signal to perpetrators of piracy that it was no longer business as usual”, he stated, The NCC boss who noted that there was an improved international rating of Nigeria in the global fight against
piracy stated that the enhanced protection of local and foreign copyright works attracted increased investment in the copyright based industries. “There are clear indications of a reduction in the level of domestic piracy which impacted positively in the legitimate copyright businesses as operators have reported over 50% increase in the profit margin for the year under review”, he added. According to the Director-General, the Commission, last year, initiated a mechanism for the reform of the Nigerian copyright system to address the challenges that modern digital technology pose to the country’s existing inadequate copyright frameworks. Noting that Nigeria was the first African country to undertake the comprehensive copyright reform as did China, India and Brazil, the DirectorGeneral stated: “The goals of the reform process include; updating the Copyright Act to meet the challenges of the digital age; to encourage and reward new forms of creativity and provide a platform for the creation, commercialization and broad diffusion of new knowledge, while enabling Nigerian businesses to profit from expanding global trade in cultural goods, which is currently heavily skewed in favour of countries with fully developed copyright systems”. Ezekude revealed that the Commission, also last year, obtained the approval of the Honourable AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice to issue the Copyright
?Levy on Materials? Order 2012. “The new Order establishes a regime of compulsory levy on materials used or capable of being used to infringe copyright in a work. The new Copyright Levy Order is informed by the need to compensate right owners for the loss that they would obviously suffer from the illicit copying of their works, and to maintain an acceptable international standard of protection that would ensure the betterment of the lot of authors” he pointed out.
147.65
1.1
2,167.00
-28.00
18.41
-0.08
113.40
+0.12
95.93 --0.02 CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYA KRONA SDR
154.73 244.0092 207.8952 167.4024 1.7003 0.2959 236.6431 24.8725 41.2569 27.8537 237.4022
155.23 244.7977 208.567 167.9433 1.7058 0.3059 237.4078 24.9533 41.3903 27.9437 238.1694
SELLING 155.73 245.5862 209.2388 168.4843 1.7113 0.3159 238.1725 25.0342 41.5236 28.0337 238.9365
CBN Exchange rate as at 28/01/2013