The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) began a technical assessment of Nigeria’s copyright registration system this week, according to reports published on November 11, 2026. The review could lead to WIPO software being used for the register, but the commission has announced no launch date or decision to adopt it.
For Nigerian music businesses, the immediate issue is the quality and accessibility of records used to document songs and recordings. An easier registration process could help creators and rights teams establish an evidence trail when licensing works or resolving ownership questions. It would not itself determine who owns a song or how streaming income is divided.
What the assessment covers
The Guardian and Nigerian Pilot separately reported that NCC director-general John Asein received a WIPO team led by Hisham Fayed, the organisation’s head of global delivery and automation support services. They said the team would examine the existing Nigeria Copyright Registration System and consider whether WIPO’s Intellectual Property Administration System (IPAS) and other tools fit the commission’s needs. The Guardian reported that the four-day mission began on November 9.
Both reports describe an assessment and possible implementation roadmap, not a completed procurement or a functioning replacement. Nigerian Pilot says Fayed described a version of IPAS called Generic Registry as capable of handling copyright records for different formats, including music. That is WIPO’s account of the software’s capability, rather than evidence that Nigeria has installed it.
The commission already offers online copyright registration through its current portal. Its own site still directs applicants to that service. A songwriter, producer or label preparing a filing today therefore has an existing route while the proposed upgrade is evaluated. The reported discussion leaves open the practical questions of migration, application fees, search access and the timing of any change.
Why the distinction matters
Section 87 of Nigeria’s Copyright Act 2022 permits an eligible work to be entered in the Register of Works and says explicitly that registration does not confer copyright. The same section treats the register as initial evidence of the work and the particulars recorded, with certified extracts admissible in proceedings. The legal value of a better database is therefore in the record it can preserve and retrieve, not in creating a right that did not exist before.
For a release team, that makes the accuracy of names, titles and ownership information the useful test of any future system. A searchable entry for a composition is not a substitute for the agreements showing its writers and shares; a registration for a sound recording is not a royalty instruction to a distributor or collecting society. Our earlier guide to work lists, distributor data and registration explains why those records must agree with one another.
The next reportable milestone is the result of WIPO’s technical assessment and an NCC decision on the implementation plan. Until those are published, artists and their representatives can use the current registration service and keep the underlying creation, credit and contract records intact. The proposed technology may improve how the commission administers filings; the public evidence does not yet show that an upgraded register is available.
