The Federal Executive Council has approved for presentation to the National Assembly, the Copy Rights Bill, aimed at combating theft of intellectual property in the creative industry.This was among policies and contracts presented to Council at this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting
Statehouse Correspondent Tai Amodu reports that this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting was the last for the year and ran for two days, starting off on Wednesday, with the Kitchen Cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari apparently in a race to put in place policies and contracts before the end of the year.
On Wednesday, it started off with the approval of contracts, the N55.7bn (fifty five point seven billion Naira) contract for the construction of the hybrid two-lane-six-lane Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road network, being the most significant.
Council also approved the contract for the rehabilitation of the Efire-Araromi-Aiyede-Aiyela road in Ogun State at the cost of about N14bn (Fourteen billion Naira) and Work on the Enugu-Onitsha highway, at a total
approved cost of N62.06 bn.
And on Thursday, approvals by the Council revolved around reviews of laws and policies with the Copy right Bill aimed at ensuring the protection of creative works against piracy and protection of intellectual property rights taking prime position.
The Council has also approved a comprehensive policy under the Suppression of Piracy and Maritime Offences Act which accords protection to the maritime industry by suppressing piracy and maritime offences.
The cabinet would approve the revision of the laws guiding the operations of the National Biosafety Management Agency as well as review regulations of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria which guided the practice of
Veterinary practice in Nigeria.
Meanwhile as the Yuletide period rolls in, government is assuring Nigerians that both the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Department of Petroleum Resources are working round the clock to ensure that fuel queues disappear from stations as soon as possible.
