Damiete Braide
To avoid encroachment by others in the book chain and prevent any wing from suffering unduly on account of its functions, there should be proper synergy and areas of specialisation defined by other stakeholders in the industry.
President, Booksellers Association of Nigeria (BAN) and Managing Director, CSS Bookshops Limited, Mr Dare Oluwatuyi, made this known in Lagos recently during the Annual Conference and General Meeting of Nigerian Publishers Association with the theme, “Publishing in an Import-Dependent Economy (The Way Forward)”.
Oluwatuyi told the gathering that, in the book chain, authors should write, publishers should produce and booksellers should sell and operate within their area of jurisdiction.
According to him, booksellers might be the ones that are being handed the shortest end of the stick as a time like this. He, therefore, admonished for a greater degree of consideration from other stakeholders towards ensuring that booksellers continue to live and thrive.
“Indeed, the truth of the matter is that, if we do not roll back on the heavy doses of encroachment that are heavily impinging on the bottom-line of almost every bookseller in the country today, the future for many booksellers is indeed quite bleak.”
He said the simple thing to do was to continue to work towards the emergence of a win-win model that would ensure that publishers, authors and schools should not become booksellers. Besides, booksellers should also be put in a good position to access books that are produced, and/or sold in the country with ease and as fast as possible.
Speaking further, Oluwatuyi urged government to create an enabling environment capable of encouraging specialisation by various players of the book industry which would reduce cost of production and retain prices would come down.
“Government should put in place support incentives towards ensuring greater viability for the ‘work of our hands’, it is in such a way that booksellers can then become better fitted to fulfill their responsibilities to it and the communities where they operate,” he said.
In his conclusion, he urged the government to adequately fund the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to effectively perform its responsibilities and there should be a review the anti-piracy law to make it unattractive to pirates.
In the same vein, President, Nigerian Publishers Association, Gbadega Adedapo recalled the association was established in 1965 to fill the vacuum in the supply of educational materials to the government and the entire populace. It has, since, been active as a collective voice for all reputable book publishers in Nigeria and a force to reckon with by the government in the formulation of policies on education and book related matters.
Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Barr. John Asein, in his welcome address, said there was a huge market that publishers had not addressed regarding books for the blind.
Asein, who also acted as chairman of the occasion, disclosed that government had started to look at the solutions to the internal and external aspects of publishing: “NCC will not be half way done if piracy remains a threat to the publishing industry and there should be a synergy between the stakeholders in the book industry and other government agencies that are committed to the fight of piracy.»