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EFCC, NCC resolve to deepen partnership aqgainst piracy. Intellectual theft
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC have resolved to deepen their partnership against piracy and intellectual theft in a bid to make them unprofitable and protect the creative economy in the south-east.

This resolution was made on Wednesday, when the Enugu State Coordinator of NCC, Mr. Macfoy Akachukwu paid a courtesy visit to the EFCC Enugu Zonal Director, Commander of the EFCC, CE Daniel Isei in his office.

While appreciating that the two agencies have collaborated over the years in many ways, including freezing of assets, Akachukwu said that pirated works are used to launder money and sometimes, the money ends up in the hands of terrorists.

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“Our visit here today is in furtherance of the collaboration between the EFCC and the NCC. Because of the MoU the two agencies signed, in some of our cases, the EFCC has always helped us in ensuring that they make available detention facilities to us and we collaborate in terms of freezing of assets. Nobody has ever thought that pirated works are used to launder money. People travel outside the country, get involved in drug related -crimes and they will use the money to make pirated copies of major publishers and get them shipped here. By doing so, they are laundering money”.

He thereafter sought for more support, adding that the essence of the visit was to strengthen the synergy between the two agencies. “Anytime we call upon you, please, continue to assist us”, he said.
Responding, Isei noted that piracy is a predicate offence to money laundering and as such the synergy between the two agencies must be deepened for the interest of the people of south-east and the country at large.

“If it is on the basis of information sharing, we’re ready to receive, we’re ready to give. If it is on the basis of investigation, we are ready to support in any way we can support. We cannot underestimate the danger that piracy does to our economy. What we, at the EFCC stand for is to have an economy that is resilient, an economy that is enduring and sustaining and that is why the issue of piracy is important for us to deal with. What intellectual property theft does to people is unimaginable”, he said.

While lamenting on the need for close collaboration between the two agencies, the Zonal Director noted that collaboration is anchored on all that the EFCC does. “One of the core values of EFCC is collaboration, so it is anchored in all we do. We are very big when it comes to collaboration, that is why we are not in any way in doubt that the point of collaboration is very critical to what we do in EFCC”, he said.

He thereafter assured Akachukwu of the Commission’s unalloyed support in putting an end to piracy and intellectual theft in the south east.