Some Nigerian Movie Directors, yesterday, proffered solutions to the problem of piracy in Nigeria.
They gave different suggestions in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Piracy has been an age-long problem in which miscreants duplicate movie producers’ films and sell, hindering them from making good returns on their investments.
One of the movie directors, Mr Temple Golden, said that the problem of piracy could be solved when the populace is properly sensitised on the implications of the act.
Golden said that the populace should be made to understand that films are people’s intellectual properties which must not be tampered with. He also advised the Federal Government to put into use a functional task force that would always raid the markets, where piracy is constantly practised, pick the pirates and make them face the wrath of the law.
“Government needs to educate the society that the act of piracy is bad; films in the past have earned some foreign currencies for the nation and it is still capable of doing the same if piracy can be dealt with,” he said.
Another movie director, Mr Oladimeji Abidakun, said another way to curb the activities of movie pirates is to harness the pirates and engage them as legal movie marketers.
Abidakun said this would enable the movie producers to have some returns on their investments, likewise, the pirates would be positively engaged.
He noted that the movie pirates should consent to jettison that illegal act and be registered as members of a recognised marketers’ association.
“With the experience garnered while being a member of the task force before now, I believe engaging the movie pirates as legal movie marketers would solve the problem.
“They are engaging in piracy in the quest to get a means of livelihood, so being a marketer will put some money in their pocket, and duplicating movies will no longer be attractive to them,” he said.
Similarly, movie director and script writer, Francis Abang, said that the federal government must take full ownership of every movie produced in the nation, such that each movie produced gets an official seal.
Abang said that seal would protect the movies from being duplicated and whoever is caught duplicating such should be made to face the wrath of the law.
Abang called on the federal government to give its full support to the industry as enjoyed by their colleagues in other climes.
“Ghanawood, which could not be compared with Nollywood, is now blazing the trail because the Ghana government is fully supporting the industry.
“Nigerian actors should also enjoy some support from our government, to improve on the industry; if the government was truly serious, piracy would have been a solved problem,” he said.