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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Copyright (Repeal) Act 2022 and one other bill recently passed by the National Assembly into law.
Also signed was the Federal College of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology Act, 2023.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Hon. Nasiru Baballe Ila, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday. said the two bills were assented to by the President on March 17.
According to the statement, the Copyright Act 2022, which repeals the Copyright Act, Cap C28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enacts the Copyright Act 2022, provides for the regulation, protection and administration of copyright.
Ila said the enactment of the new Copyright Act has demonstrated the commitment of the Buhari administration to re-energising Nigeria’s creative economy and making it more globally competitive in the digital age.
“The principal objectives of the new law, as outlined in section 1 are to: protect the rights of authors and ensure just rewards and recognition for their intellectual efforts; provide appropriate limitations and exceptions to guarantee access to creative works; facilitate Nigeria’s compliance with obligations arising from relevant international copyright treaties and conventions; and enhance the capacity of the Nigerian Copyright Commission for effective regulation, administration, and enforcement,” he said.
He explained that the new Copyright Act expands the rights of authors, raises the sanctions for criminal infringements and “more adequately addresses the challenges posed by digital and online use of copyright works.”
“The Act also provides specially for the needs of the blind, visually impaired and print disabled persons to have access to learning and reading materials in accessible formats,” Ila added.
He said the Federal College of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology, Jos Act, 2023, repeals the Federal School of Medical Laboratory Science, Jos (Establishment) Act, 2018 and enacts the Federal College of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology, Jos Act, 2023, to make the institution more effective in the discharge of its functions.
The new act, among others, seeks to strengthen the organisational framework, and bring its provision in conformity with current democratic principles and operations of existing educational institutions, and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
