The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been caught plagiarising the policy and terms of use of an American wireless equipment supplier as its own policy on the eNaira website, Peoples Gazette can report.
Nigeria’s digital currency, marketed to boost cross-border trade and other financial activities, was launched on October 25 by President Muhammadu Buhari amidst a televised fanfare, after its botched unveiling on the nation’s Independence Day on October 1.
During its launch, Governor Godwin Emefiele had said that extensive research had commenced on the adoption of the digital currency as far back as 2017. Mr Buhari touted the policy as the first in Africa and nudged his aides to milk its novel attributes for scarce public relations glory.
However, checks on the eNaira website by Peoples Gazette have exposed how Africa’s largest economy’s digital currency policy was lifted from JLG’s website, despite having four years to plan.
“In no event will licensor or its officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives, affiliates or contractors (collectively, the “released parties”), be liable to licensee or any third party for any use, interruption, delay, or inability to use the software’ lost revenues or profits; delays, interruption or loss of services, business, or goodwill; loss or corruption of data; loss resulting from the system or system service failure, malfunction, or shutdown; failure to accurately transfer, read or transmit information,” the document read on JLG’s website.
A thorough check indicated that a part of the limitation of liability clause on CBN’s website was lifted verbatim from U.S.-based JLG, a wireless innovation company based in McConnellsburg, about 70 kilometres southwest of Harrisburg.
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“In no event will the CBN or its directors, officers, employees, independent contractors, affiliates or agents, or any of its or their respective service providers, be liable to you or any third party for any use, interruption, delay or inability to use the eNaira website, lost revenues or profits, delays, interruption or loss of services, business or goodwill, loss or corruption of data, loss resulting from system or system service failure, malfunction or shutdown, failure to accurately transfer…” eNaira’s policy read.
A spokesman for the CBN said the bank was aware of the plagiarism and found nothing wrong with it.
“With reference to your enquiry, it’s important to understand that certain legal clauses are standard and the wordings may be the same,” corporate communications director Osita Nwanisobi said in a message to The Gazette. “You may wish to check several websites to confirm this.
Plagiarism is not only treated as ethical shortcomings but is also considered illegal and penalised in many jurisdictions because it violates intellectual property rights. Nigeria has struggled for years to take violations of intellectual property rights seriously, leaving many in top places to see nothing unusual about the conduct.
President Buhari himself had been caught repeatedly plagiarising quotable quotes from Barack Obama and other world leaders. News articles and columns are regularly plagiarised by a large section of print and broadcast journalists nationwide without consequences.