TheCable

Veteran singer, Stella Monye, has a short-cut to fighting piracy: amputation.

She told NAN on Wednesday that amputation of the hands for those who engage in the piracy of intellectual property is the best way to curb the scourge.

Monye said it was only when drastic steps were taken that piracy could be reduced to the barest minimum.

“If their fingers are cut, they won’t see the hands to use in pirating the works.

“Cutting their fingers off will stop them, by the time you cut off two people’s fingers others will stop.

“They will learn and it will be faster in stopping them; without a drastic measure they won’t stop.

“Taking them to court to be fined N10, 000 will not deter them. They will pay and come out to continue,” she said.

The musician noted that piracy had wreaked untold hardship on the nation’s hardworking artistes, making it difficult for many of them to make ends meet.

“You become a pauper because of your pirated works, they impoverish you.

“What is more wicked than pirating someone’s intellectual property and making the person suffer without getting anything from all the money he invested in the works.

“We have been saying a lot about piracy but the authorities have not done much for it to be stopped,” said Monye.

Piracy is a major problem in Nigeria’s creative industry ─ although many think buying music electronically has made progress in combating bootlegging.

Major telcoms networks now sell songs directly to mobile phones.