Musician tasks government on Piracy

A folklore musician, Akeem Lasisi, on Saturday urged all tiers of government in the country to invest genuinely in the fight against piracy, to bring sanity into the entertainment sector.

Lasisi, who is also a poet, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that when piracy was addressed, music and other aspects of the nation’s creative sector would be made attractive.

``Piracy, if not tackled, will never bring sanity into the entertainment sector, for it to pay the practitioners and create jobs for both the old and the young in the industry.

``Many people that read arts in school have had to take to other jobs because there is no proper structure for them to practice and earn a living in the creative arts.

``Government should develop a system where musicians and other artistes can begin to integrate what they do, when there are structures in place.

``Nollywood took the lead but government allowed that to die down because of piracy and lack of appropriate policies and structures in the sector,” he said.

``Musician can get acquainted with them and from there, they can begin to market what we have to other countries.

``Artistes too should step up their professionalism and make music more relevant to national revival.

``In all these, what we need are structures and ways to curb piracy, because the arts need to thrive in this country.

``This should be the priority of the present administration, so that a lot of jobs can be created.

``Nigerian youths are getting much more involved in the creative arts, so it can be used to help them to begin to look inwards,” he said.

NAN reports that the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) graduate further said that intellectual property in this country would continue to be a waste for practitioners if piracy was not stemmed.