Piracy cripples Information Technology development in Nigeria

Businesses in the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) sector has continued to face grave danger in Nigeria as a result of piracy. This is just as the Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) announced the arrest of some of the perpetrators recently.

"Microsoft Nigeria complained about some of their application that is pirated in the market while four perpetrators were arrested in the last raid at the Computer Village, Ikeja,

Lagos state," said Emeka Ogbonna, Zonal Manager NCC.

"We investigated the people that were suspected to be involved and did what is called test of purchases. The suspects go on with their normal business while under investigation. When we confirm it is pirated we now move in to arrest the perpetrators," said Mr. Ogbonna.

The Commission raided four companies - Teeomy System Limited, Paragon Technologies Limited, Plum Telecom and Ebee Ventures - all in the Computer Village.

Innovation killer

"Piracy in ICT sector is a danger to innovation and new development in the sector," said Lanre Ajayi, the president, Nigeria Internet Group, in a telephone interview.

"When others derive the benefit of the provider, it discourages further development or innovation, and in turn hinder economy growth, discourages creative and reward laziness." Mr. Ogbonna explained that greed and consumers demand for cheap applications have driven people to associate themselves with pirated copies.

"People go into piracy because of greed, (it) is an easy way of making money, our environment and consumers contribute to the situation. A pirated copy can never serve as an original copy as the consumers are always looking for cheap application. The presence of someone selling fake product around a genuine product affects (the) market.

"Consumer demand for cheap product cannot determine an operators' price as the operator would have put so much into creating its application. The moment the consumer understands the implication of piracy, the cumulative damages to your system, they would desist from it," he added.

Mr. Ajayi further said that consumers' excuse of cheap applications is not a reason to patronise pirated products. "I would not agree to that as an excuse to buy pirated application because they are looking for cheap ones. The provider can determine a fair price that can suit the consumers," said Mr. Ajayi.

All parties must work together

Microsoft, one of the world largest software providers has said that piracy cannot be stopped until all parties - the regulators, the firm and consumers - work together.

"There are two major steps to take with regards to managing piracy issues," said Serge Ntamack, Compliance Manager, Microsoft Nigeria. "The first is a perception change and the second is enforcement. The two must work hand in hand. Our advice is that the government should empower the agencies charged with enforcement by providing more funding and manpower to get the job done."

"Government should lead by showing respect for Intellectual Property (IP) rights, then go on to entrench this in all major plans and communications thereof. For instance, a call for the respect of IP rights should be integrated in the re-brand Nigeria project currently being championed by the Ministry of Information. And the consumers need to have the right attitude in knowing what is right and wrong for them because buying a pirated copy is stealing somebody's work," said Mr. Ntamack.

According to the firm, piracy has affected the growth of its business in relation to partnership with clients and income into the firm.

"The results are multifaceted. In addition to the obvious loss of revenue for us and our partners who do genuine business, there is the erosion of consumer confidence in our software as a result of the losses they suffer from the use of pirated software. As a company, we are very focused on providing the tools that people and businesses need to achieve their potential, so customer satisfaction is our singular goal," Mr. Ntamack added.

Information technology professionals have acknowledged that ICT piracy is a global problem, as most of the pirated copies in Nigeria come from Asian countries.

"The pirated hard-discs are imported into Nigeria from Asian countries like China which is one of the world biggest ICT market," said Mr. Ogbonna.