The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has summoned the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to appear before it on May 31, to explain why he allegedly copied the research work of a Nigerian Professor resident in the United States of America, and presented it as his own ideas at a public lecture he delivered in Edo state on November 26, 2010.
Justice Adamu Bello who made the order yesterday, equally granted the plaintiff, Professor Victor E. Dike, leave to paste the court processes at the Notice Board of the CBN, situated within the Central Business District, Cadastral Zone AO, of Abuja.
Specifically, the plaintiff who is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Engineering and Technology, National University, Sacremento and Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Centre for Social Justice and Human Development in California, told the high court that he was the original author of a research wok entitled: “Review of the challenges facing the Nigerian Economy: (Is national development possible without technological capability?), which he said the CBN boss copied verbatim and delivered as his paper during the eight convocation ceremony of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
Prof Dike said he was forced to approach the high court for redress upon discovering that the CBN governor had in six separate occasions, plagiarized his intellectual works, just as he has asked the court to make a declaration that the defendant is in breach of the copyrights of the plaintiff.
As well as to grant, “a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from citing the two papers delivered by the defendant on the 26th of November 2010, and 10th of December 2010 respectively as his work, having breached the Copyrights of the plaintiff without proper reference and citation in accordance with Copyrights Acts.”
He implored the court to issue an order directing the defendant to immediately retract the papers from the public to wit: by removing same from the CBN website, and make a publication in a national daily, denouncing the authorship for the articles that constitute the component of the two lectures presented in Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State and Abubakar Tafawa Belewa University, Bauchi.
According to the processes which were entered before the court by counsels to the plaintiff, Mr Onyinye Obiaju and E.U Chinedum, yesterday, Sanusi allegedly copied pages 98, 99 and 100 of a research work that was done by Prof. Dike, verbatim, and pasted same at pages 26 and 27 of one of his speeches entitled “Growth Prospects for the Nigerian Economy.”
Some lines from the said plagiarized work reads; “the challenges facing the economy is in-effective institutions and dilapidated infrastructure (bad roads, erratic power supply, limited access to potable water and basic healthcare, and in-effective regulatory agencies, etc). The plethora of reforms and policies are in-effective due to institutional failure (Hoff, 2003).
“Building a vibrant economy or restoring growth to an ailing economy takes resources. To ensure long-term growth and prosperity, Nigeria must use its resources wisely, invest in science and technology education and rebuild the institutions and infrastructure without which the economy will not gain from the ‘power of productivity’ (Lewis, April 2004; Dike, January 31, 2006).
A nation enjoys higher standards of living if the workers can produce large quantity of quality goods and services for local consumption and extra for export (Mankiw, 2001). Without technological capability, however, the economic will 100 remain in shambles, productivity will remain low, the quality of goods and services will remain poor, and Nigeria will not effectively compete in the global market place.”
Justice Bello ordered the court bailiff to paste the processes at the CBN notice board after the bailiff, through an affidavit he deposed on oath, narrated how security personnel at Sanusi’s office, not only barred him from seeing their boss, but equally declined to accept the court papers on his behalf. (Vanguard)
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