INFRINGEMENT OF NIGERIAN CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC HERITAGE (FOLKLORE): ARE THEIR PROTECTION AND REMEDIES UNDER NIGERIA COPYRIGHT ACT?

The Copyright Act’ is the law enacted in Nigeria for the protection of intellectual creations from being exploited by others without the authorization or consent of the author or owner of the work. The first autochthonous copyright law was promulgated in Nigeria by the military government in 1970.’ Hitherto, it was the English Copyright Act of 1911 that was made applicable in Nigeria by an Order-in-Council, 1912.* Under the 1970 Copyright Act. no provisions were made for the protection of Nigeria Cultural and Artistic Heritage (folklore). performers’ right and administrative body responsible for administering copyright and related rights in Nigeria inter alia. Thus, the said Act was subject of criticisms’ and as such there was a call for its reform.” Infact, Akinola Aguda called for a new Copyright Act to be promulgated, “not a patching-up amendment law”® in his keynote address at a seminar. Thus in 1988, after series of seminars/workshops organized on copyright, another Copyright Decree’ was promulgated which not only repealed the 1970 Copyright Degree but also strengthened the hitherto inadequate provisions of copyright law in Nigeria.® The 1988 Decree was renamed an Act in 1990° following the revision of all Federal Laws. In 1992,\" the Act was amended \"| in order to provide enabling environment for the administration of copyright. In 2004, as a consequence of the revision of all Federal Laws in Nigeria, the Copyright Act is in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.\"? In 2012, a Bill’? was presented to the National Assembly for the review of the Copyright Act Cap C28, LEN, 2004.