Federal Government should create a special anti-piracy squad in the Nigeria Police Force to checkmate the rising menace of intellectual property piracy.

Stakeholders in the creative industry made the call at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the Tony Elumelu Foundation on the development of the creative industries.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed presided over the ceremony which was attended by major stakeholders in the entertainment and creative industry.

Foremost comedian, Ali Baba noted that the creative industries, if properly harnessed would become money spinner for the nation and a source of foreign earnings, saying the industries were bedeviled by the activities of pirates who were milking them dry and preventing accruals for taxes and levies to the government purse.

The comedian urged the government to give the same measure it would give to pipeline vandals and other economic saboteurs to intellectual property pirates, calling for the creation of the special unit in the Police that would be saddled with the sole responsibility of fighting intellectual property pirates for the industry to grow.

Speaking in same vein, notable movie producer Zeb Ejiro, said enforcement on piracy crimes should be strengthened and the relevant agencies should ensure that perpetrators got commensurate punishment, calling for the appointment of people with requisite knowledge and training in the creative industry as heads of government parastatal agencies in the sector.

Actress and movie producer, Joke Sylva, corroborated both Ali Baba and Ejiro on the need for government to strengthen anti-piracy laws and enforcement, also called for the renovation of many abandoned iconic monuments across the country, including the National Theatre, Iganmu and putting them into appropriate usage.

On his part, notable artist, Ali Balogun hailed the collaboration between the government and the Tony Elumelu Foundation on the development of the creative industries, calling on other foundations and well-meaning Nigerians to take cue from the collaboration and support the government in revamping the sector.

Philanthropist and founder of the foundation, Tony Elumelu, noted that the creative industries had the potential to move the country away from its monolithic economy and dependence on oil, saying the Nigerian movie industry is the third largest in the world and urged stakeholders to project the country better and place less emphasis on fetish beliefs.

The minister, who supported the call for the setting up of special unit in the Police to fight piracy, suggested that the stakeholders should take the lead, saying for it to work, they must work together with the Police and take proactive measure, adding that stakeholders could approach the Police that they were ready to provide the logistics just like they had with the banks in the movement of cash.

Other notable artists at the event were popular musician D’banj, Hilda Dokubo, Emeka Ossai, and Chioma Udeh among others, as well as mentors and entrepreneurs of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.