Dr Kamaldeen Omopupa, an Associate Professor of Library and information Science, has called on the Nigeria Copyright Commission to fully implement law against plagiarism in the country.
Omopupa, who is with the Faculty of Communications and information Sciences, University of llorin, made the call in llorin on Monday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to him, the alarming rate of cases of plagiarism especially at the institutions of learning mars the nation’s image before the international community.
“Most Nigerians are not aware of the implication of plagiarism and some authors whose works were plagiarised are not complaining and this is a retardation for the country’s educational advancement,” Omopupa said.
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” It is now incumbent on the Nigeria Copyright Commission to educate Nigerians on the law prohibiting copying of another person’s work and fully implement the law by arresting the culprits.
“At the University of llorin recently, a professor was demoted and sacked over plagiarism after reliable investigation was conducted by the relevant authority,” Omopupa said.
The don advised Nigerian authors to always deposit copies of their works with the National Library of Nigeria for the provision of an international Standard Book Number (lSBN) to guard against plagiarism of their works.
” Any works that are deposited at the National Library can easily be traced if anybody or group copy it for their benefits without reference to the original author,” he said.
(NAN)