The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) on Saturday, November 2, confiscated ₦23.1 million in pirated books from local shops, including Academic Needs and Zion Bookshop during a raid in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The raid was by the Deputy Director of Operations, Mr Macfoy Akachukwu, representing the NCC Director General, Dr. John Asein.

Akachukwu, who stated that the raid was a significant operation to combat the rampant sale of pirated books, listed the books seized during the raid to include: Basic Civic Education by Dr Merry Ukaegbu, Spectrum New Further Mathematics by T.R. Moses and Essential Christian Religious Study for Senior Secondary Schools by Orovwuje B.O and Okolie E.U.

Other books included Macmillan Brilliant English for Junior Secondary Schools by Wale Ossianwo, New General Basic Science for Junior Secondary Schools by S. Ajayi, New Oxford Secondary English Course for Secondary Schools by Ayo Banjo and New Concept Mathematics for Senior Secondary Schools by H.N. Odogwu among others.

Major publishers affected by the raid included Evans, UPL, Lantern, Longman, TONAD, and Pearson among others.

According to Asein, the operation is important as it was part of a nationwide initiative to protect authors’ rights.

“What we have done is part of the commissions mandate to protect and promote the rights of authors and other genuine investors in the copyright book industry,” he stated.

He reaffirmed that the NCC is committed to “eliminating the sale of pirated works and to establish a robust copyright framework in Nigeria”.

Asein emphasized that authors deserve to benefit from their creative work and not run into financial losses because of piracy.

“It is our duty to ensure that authors get rewards for their creative work. I have under my watch, zero tolerance for piracy and infringement of Copyright Laws,” Asein said.

While the Federal Government and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) continue to engage in discussions to end the ongoing strike, academic activities in the country have remained grounded leaving students in frustration.

Investors King in an earlier report detailed that the academic bodies directed its members to commence a nationwide indefinite strike from Monday over the nonpayment of four months withheld salaries.

The leaders of the two unions announced that the strike would start on Sunday, October 27, 2024.

JAC, in a circular to all branch chairmen of NASU and SSANU in the universities and inter-university centres, with the title: ‘Latest development in respect of the withheld four (4) months salaries’, and signed by Prince Peters Adeyemi, General Secretary of NASU and Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, SSANU President, explained that the timing of the action was for effective co-ordination and for both unions to be on the same page.

After discussions with the unions, the FG through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation on Saturday authorized a partial payment to the bodies and urged them to shelve the strike.

Reacting to this, JAC kicked against the FG’s approval of only one month out of the four months of withheld salaries.

The union officials, including SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, stated that the one-month salary is insufficient to meet their demands.

“Yes, they paid one month out of four months. We shall be meeting to appraise the situation, but not everyone has received their pay so far,” Ibrahim said.

The unions declared that the nationwide strike would continue until all demands are met and all withheld salaries paid.

JAC revealed that over 98 percent of union members across the country have complied with the strike.

Revealing the next step, Ibrahim said, “We plan to convene soon to determine further steps, and reaffirm our stance to remain on strike until the government fully addresses the salary backlog.”

Activities at various public hospitals and tertiary institutions of learning across Nigeria have been grounded following the industrial action embarked upon by the Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities.

Checks by Investors King on Tuesday revealed that workers belonging to these striking bodies refused to resume their duty posts in compliance with the indefinite strike.

Many patients who had visited public hospitals were not attended to while some newly admitted students of some federal Universities and Polytechnic were stranded in their schools.

It was gathered that there were no workers to attend to them in their registration exercises.

For instance at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State where matriculation events are ongoing, the event was stalled on Tuesday after workers deserted their duty posts.

A pregnant woman who had visited Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo for medical attention said she was not attended to because workers who are members of NASU joined the strike.

Recall that on Monday, federal universities across the country were shut down, in compliance with the indefinite strike called
by the associations.

SSANU and NASU vowed to indefinitely shut down all university activities across the country, starting Monday, until the Federal Government paid the four months withheld salaries.

A statement signed by the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, said the ultimatum it gave the Federal Government over its withheld salaries expired Sunday midnight, hence the industrial action.

The unions are demanding, among others, the payment of the four-month withheld salaries, improved remuneration, earned allowances, and implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.

The Federal Government had, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, invoked the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy when the four university-based unions embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022.

Last October, President Bola Tinubu directed payment of four of the eight months withheld salaries for the academic staff. It was finally paid in February.

The directive was silent about the non-teaching staff, raising concerns as to their fate, a development the unions described as selective.

The Federal Ministry of Education on Monday reached out to the leaders of the university workers’ union, following the declaration of an indefinite strike.

Ibrahim noted that the ministry reached out to him requesting a meeting.

According to Ibrahim, the compliance observed in universities on Monday likely prompted the Federal Ministry of Education to request a meeting.