The Director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein, has called for greater collaboration between governments, development partners, and other stakeholders to enhance reading culture in Nigeria.

Dr. Asein, in his address on Wednesday to mark this year’s World Book and Copyright Day, said such collaborations towards entrenching a sound reading culture through promotion and publishing of books and readable publications across indigenous languages and digital platforms will help to actualise the vision of promoting books and reading across the board.

He noted that the NCC will continue to champion and promote models that will make more books available in accessible and readable formats, enhance and promote reading among young readers, and develop policies and strategies to promote copyright awareness and respect for authors and copyright works.

April 23 every year is set aside by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Book and Copyright Day to focus on the importance of books, promote reading, and raise awareness on the role of copyright in promoting and protecting the rights of authors.

The theme of this year’s celebration, Read Your Way, the same as that of last year, focuses on the importance of reading for pleasure, supporting a child’s right to choose their own books, and embedding reading as a lifelong habit with numerous benefits.

It was also a time to highlight the importance of books, authors, publishers, and libraries, while also safeguarding the copyright of authors.

The NCC DG said in celebrating the 2024 World Book and Copyright Day, the Commission launched a year-long intervention programme to promote reading for pleasure and build respect for copyright through an ABC Action Plan viz: to adopt measures to make reading more fun; to bring books closer to more children and to choose change champions for books and copyright.

“It will be recalled that Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate in Literature, playwright, essayist, literary icon and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Professor Wole Soyinka was named the first Copyright Change Champion,” he said, adding that the Commission is, more than ever, poised to achieve the action plan with the setting up of more Copyright clubs in secondary schools and increased Copyright sensitisation programmes in schools to encourage creativity, promote reading, encourage non-discriminatory access to knowledge and to raise copyright awareness.

“Through deepened synergy with our stakeholders in the renewed fight against piracy, Rights will be better protected and Authors encouraged to create more readable materials, readily available to a greater population of people and in accessible formats for persons living with disabilities, especially blind and visually impaired persons,” he said.