Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has pledged institutional support for the newly launched anti-plagiarism software to address incessant plagiarism and other copyright abuses in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Director-General of NCC, Mr. John O. Asein, made this known in Abuja recently at the presentation of the Eaglescan Plagiarism Detection Software by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU).
The presentation of the Anti-Plagiarism software comes on the heels of the collaboration of NCC with the AVCNU and other relevant stakeholders to introduce a Draft Intellectual Policy for Nigerian Universities.
The Director-General decried the spate of plagiarism, copyright infringements and abuses in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and called on stakeholders in the education sector to lead by example and show respect for copyright and intellectual products.
Mr. Asein expressed optimism that the software would help the ongoing campaign against plagiarism, piracy and all forms of copyright abuses in tertiary institutions.
While congratulating the AVCNU on the successful launch of the Eaglescan Plagiarism Detection Software, the Director-General of NCC, Mr. John O. Asein, assured right owners that as part of NCC’s antipiracy interventions, the Commission would continue to work with them to sanitise every copyright space.
Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, while emphasising the need to institutionalise an anti-plagiarism policy in all higher institutions, expressed concern that the issues of plagiarism and copyright abuses have robbed Nigerian universities of much-desired integrity.
“Having the software is one aspect of the battle against plagiarism. Universities must take concrete steps to institutionalise anti-plagiarism policy that forbids all aspects of intellectual theft”, he stated.
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, also canvassed for upgrading of the plagiarism detection software to the status of a national repository to make it mandatory for all institutions of learning to subscribe to it.
The Chairman on the occasion and Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Higher Education, Senator (Prof.) Sandy Onor, noted that the software would enhance the authenticity of research efforts in the country.
In his remarks, the Secretary-General, Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), Prof. Yakubu Ochefu expressed displeasure that intellectual property theft such as plagiarism was undermining the dignity of the Nigerian university system. While noting that the AVCNU and NCC have an on-going collaboration, he assured that AVCNU would continue to work with NCC and other stakeholders to address the challenge.
Prof. Ochefu indicated that both organisations would aggregate available resources to stem the menace of plagiarism and copyright piracy in tertiary institutions. “We need the experience that the NCC has and its institutional structures across the country to be deployed to assist us in this fight against plagiarism and other copyright abuses”, he stressed.
The Secretary-General of AVCNU also assured that the Association would continue to support the NCC to enforce its mandate across campuses in the country to check plagiarism and cases that concern copyright piracy.
The Eaglescan Plagiarism Detection Software is a cross-platform application built on enterprise Java with robust big-data and search engines with capacity for data search and analytics. The software incorporates global open source and closed source repositories as well as local open education repositories. It allows users to validate title abstracts, primary texts and generate originality check and similarity report, among others.
The public presentation was attended by top Government officials, policymakers, Professors, IT experts and other stakeholders from academia.
NCC Pledges Support for Anti-Plagiarism Software for Tertiary Institutions
