Established under section 34 of the Copyright Act (Cap C28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004) the Nigerian Copyright Commission was inaugurated on 19 August 1989, first as the Nigerian Copyright Council. It was elevated to the status of a commission in April 1996 and this administrative change was confirmed by the Copyright (Amendment) Decree 1999.

The commission is the government agency responsible for all copyright matters in Nigeria including the administration, regulation, enforcement and prosecution under the Copyright Act. Its statutory authority includes:

The commission is also charged with the following statutory responsibilities under the Copyright Act:

The commission is supervised by a Governing Board established under section 35 of the Act and constituted as follows:

The representatives of the Ministries are required to be officers not below the rank of director and the board is at liberty to adopt its own rules of procedure and method of operation. The day-to-day administration of the commission is under a director general who is designated as the chief executive of the commission. The Director General is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the minister. He is to serve for a four-year term, after which he or she may seek for a renewal of the appointment.

The current Director General is Dr. John Asein.

The commission has eight departments each of which is headed by a director. The departments are:

There is, in addition, a Copyright Institute.