23 April of every year is a symbolic date for world literature. According to reliable sources, it is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

The date was therefore set aside in 1995 by the UNESCO’s General Conference held in Paris to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors. It is also a day to encourage everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. In this regard, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day. In celebrating this day UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry – publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a one-year period, effective 23 April each year. This year the city of Wroclaw, Poland, has being chosen has the 2016 World Book capital. To mark this year's celebration the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, in a message posted on the website of the organization, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/wbcd, said

"Coming in all forms, books embody the diversity of human ingenuity, giving shape to the wealth of human experience, expressing the search for meaning and expression that all women and men share, that drive all societies forward. Books help weave humanity together as a single family, holding a past in common, a history and heritage, to craft a destiny that is shared, where all voices are heard in the great chorus of human aspiration. "This is what we celebrate on World Book and Copyright Day, in partnership with the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions — the power of books to nurture creativity and advance dialogue between women and men of all cultures."

Speaking with The Herald Arts in Ilorin the Kwara state chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Colonel Oladele Babajamu (fdc) (retd) said although the association in the state does not have any activities lined up for the day "this is because many of our members are busy with their work, most of the schools are still on holiday. So we have to observe with the world and see what is happening in the press and see what is happening for now. Maybe next year we will have programmes to mark the day."

Babajamu further revealed that the association celebrated the poetry day last month with poets coming together to rub minds and renditions of poetry. Speaking on the recurring indictment that Nigerians don't read, Babajamu lamented that what has taken the place of reading is electronic gadgets. He pointed out that youths prefer to watch football leagues while the older ones prefer to watch movie channels. "as a result a lot of books are left on the shelves unread gathering dust. Ironically when writing their curriculum vitea lot of young people put reading and writing as their hobbies but when you ask them how many books they have read for the year you will realize that they have not read any."

While commending some of the patrons of the association for their relentless efforts at encouraging and supporting reading in the country and the state in particular, Babajamu appreciated Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN) for doling out an annual grant to the association and also Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd) for making facilities available to the association to be used at any point in time free of charge. Also speaking on the importance of protecting the work of creativity the Head, Ilorin Liason office of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mrs. Akinwumi Justina, stressed that importance of copyright as the world marks this year's World Book and Copyright Day.

In an exclusive interview with The Herald Arts she said, "Copyright is very important to Nigerians as we celebrate World Book and Copyright Day especially to creator of works i.e writers, publishers, film makers, producers etc, as it provides them with a legal right of ownership of the work they produce. "Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country in certain creative work such as text, artistic work, music, computer programme, sound recording films etc. The rights are granted exclusively to the copyright owner to reproduce the material and for some materials right to perform a show, work in public place. Copyright owner can prevent others from reproducing their works without the permission or may sell rights to someone else. "Also, creators of an original piece of work can have some control over how it is used, which is not only fair but necessary for them to earn a living from the efforts. This will encourage them to continue to invest their time and resources if they earn a living from their works.

"Again, copyright system is being put in place in Nigeria which help the original author and producers of works to enjoy protection and receive incentives as a result of royalties being paid to owners of works whose work is being used. This led to licensing of different collective management organizations (CMOS) in copyright industry. For example, the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) is a formidable organization which promotes and protects the copyright of practitioners in Nigerian Music Industry. And ensure that the rights of persons from other lands who have interest in music used in On the success of the agency in recent years, Akinwumi revealed that the commission ensures that those arrested in connection with criminal violation of copyright are duly prosecuted. She explained that the NCC has secured maximum sentences of imprisonment without option of fines in a number of cases out of 54 convictions recorded in 5years.