| Nigerian President - Dr. Goodluck Jonathan |
Nigeria loses N47.5 billion ($300 million) yearly to intellectual property theft, Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Emmanuel Onyeje, has said.
Although he did not explain how he arrived at this figure, he said if this problem was not checked, it could threaten creativity and encourage criminality.
He said criminals could easily get cheap funding through the patronage of the intellectual properties they sell to people.
Such funds, he said, would have been used to develop the economy through the provision of infrastructure.
According to him, intellectual property theft is a disincentive to investment in the creative industry. He urged to arest the situation.
“Intellectual property theft discourages investment into the country. It is one big disincentive to investment to the economy. If there are no laws that protect investment, investors will always lose out. Therefore, if economic development is the fundamental goal of the government, then it must do something about piracy. The government must empower the appropriate agencies to do its works,” he said.
According to a report by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the global body responsible for the advancement of the goals of the software industry, Nigeria is said to be losing $513 million yearly. This, according to the report, harms local resellers and service firms; lowers government revenues and heightens the risk of cyber crime and security problems in the country.
BSA added that reducing intellectual property theft (software piracy) by just 10 per cent over four years could deliver billions of naira in economic growth and create thousands of new jobs to occupy the growing army of the youthful unemployed.
Source: The Nation
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