Lagos — Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC) on Thursday in Abuja said it had confiscated more than 200 cartons of pirated books valued at about N30 million.

A statement by Assistance Director of Public Affairs of the NCC, Vincent Oyefeso, said the confiscation was made in two operations carried out on August 12 and 18.

The statement said following a tip off, a team of copyright inspectors, backed by armed mobile police, swooped on the Aspamda Market inside the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, and made the seizure.

It said the pirated books belonged to almost all the publishers in the country.

The statement said the confiscated products included five cartons of Black's Law Dictionary, 29 cartons of the Holy Bible, 45 cartons of Oxford Dictionary, four cartons of 'Foundation of Nursing and First Aid' by Ross and Wilson.

"Others are 86 copies of 'Trans Afrique' book by Macmillan, 16 copies of New Method Dictionary by Longman, 78 copies of 'Iyawo Alarede', 55 copies of Macmillan Primary Science and many others," it said.

The statement also said on August 11, the commission inspected two Lagos-based replicating plants, namely Transverse Ltd and Chronotect Ltd.

"During the commission's inspection of Chronotect, CDs entitled, 'Songs from New Redemption Hymnal', purportedly produced by Kingsway Communication Ltd, with the label of 'Renbo', were found being replicated by the plant," it said.

The statement said the seizures were being investigated.

It quoted Adebambo Adewopo, Director General of the NCC, as saying that the commission remained committed to its mandate of enforcing the copyright law.

"Adebambo urged genuine stakeholders to partner with the commission on the Strategic Action Against Piracy (STRAP) to curb the menace of piracy in the country," the statement said.