Jun 29, 2009 - Anti Piracy Seminar And Opening Of The Association Of Movie Producers (Nigeria) Secretariat
Let me begin by congratulating Paul Obazele and his colleagues in the Association of Movie Producers Nigeria on the formal opening of the new secretariat which took place a while ago. I also want to commend you all for your commitment to take the movie industry in Nigeria, which I am informed is now rated second in the world after Bollywood, to the topmost position in spite of the myriad of challenges being faced by the industry. PIRACY: A Menace to National Economy, the theme of this seminar is no doubt very apt as it focuses on one issue that has been described as the greatest challenge facing the movie industry today. Piracy is a global problem and Nigeria has been ranked as one of the countries with the highest piracy rate in the world.
Piracy is a serious crime and a great disincentive to creativity and innovation which are the main features that distinguishes quality intellectual properties including movies. The reason for this is not far fetched, every investor would be cautious in the amount of funds that he will be prepared to invest in producing a quality movie knowing fully well that he stands the risk of not breaking even or losing as much as 50% of his earned profits to pirates. Also, when viewed from the angle of revenue loss in terms of unpaid taxes and the huge loss both directly and indirectly, we will come to the understanding that piracy is a serious crime not only against movie producers and other practitioners in the industry but also against the state and the people.
This is why the fight against piracy must not be seen as the sole responsibility of movie producers and the practitioners but a collective effort. There is very urgent need for a review of the current strategies to make them more effective. We need to do more in the area of awareness to educate the people on the evil and negative consequences of piracy so that they too can see the need to be part of the struggle, renew our commitment towards strict enforcement of existing provisions of the law against perpetrators of this illegal act as well as encourage the development of new technologies that makes it difficult, expensive or impossible for intellectual properties to be pirated.
The point must also be made that while we are doing everything possible internally to combat the menace of piracy, we need to complement this effort with strong partnership with other countries particularly those that shares similar experiences with us. This is a key success factor because piracy is not peculiar to us. It is global problem with strong network around the world.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the potentials of the movie industry for economic growth, job creation is very huge. The single obstacle to the realisation of this potential is piracy. As rightly noted by Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, “the world’s cinema future is put to extreme peril by the menace of piracy”. I believe this problem is not insurmountable if the will is there and everyone demonstrates strong commitment to work as a team and discharge our responsibilities in our different spheres of influence and authority with utmost sense of patriotism and sincerity.
Once again I congratulate every member of the Association of Movie Producers of Nigeria and wish you success in all you efforts.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Her Excellency
Mrs. Abimbola Fashola
First Lady of Lagos State