Linda Ikeji et al.: When Plagiarism Becomes the Cancer of Blogging, By Kunle Olabode

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing – Edmund Burke.

I am not certain there is a lot of knowledge or enlightenment on the subject of plagiarism and its consequences in Nigeria, otherwise it wouldn’t thrive in this manner. It is not out of place to want to upload all sorts of “interesting” content to your blog, but when you have not originally generated this content, at least kindly seek the permission of the author/owner of such, or give credit to its source in your publication.

I had a chance encounter with Pastor Paul Adefarasin at Elegushi, Lekki area of Lagos state last week on March 3, after 7 a.m., on my way to work. The Senior Pastor of House on the Rock helped in no small measure to ease the traffic flow along that route. I was quite impressed hence I took some pictures and wrote a short post on Facebook to commend him.

The post generated tremendous interest on the social media, in line with the primary motive of encouraging people to imbibe good leadership skills and to always add value to society. However, in total contrast to the spirit of the message, some bloggers rather chose to seize the moment to commit atrocious acts.

A Google search and analysis revealed the depth of this bizarre act. One of the culprits is the blogger, Linda Ikeji, who is generally alleged to have a notoriety for plagiarism. Words could barely convey my feelings of disappointment on seeing the watermark and seal ‘Linda Ikeji Blog’ appended to the pictures I took, which I have copyrights on and which were lifted straight off my Facebook page! There was hardly a blog that didn’t latch on to the story in varying degrees. Stella Dimoko-korkus also partook in this. It appears that some bloggers resort to pathetic means to drive traffic to their sites. A number of them lifted my accompanying Facebook posts verbatim and also posted this on their blogs, while taking full ownership of the materials by draping their seals on the entire material. Isn’t it obvious we’re dealing with people of compromised integrity? It is bad enough to take a screenshot of my pictures, but even worse to copy the accompanying post, and publish both as content thats original to them.

I have nothing against blogging and I have benefitted from some wonderful blogs over the years. Furthermore, I blog @ www.kunleolabode.com, although the post in question was largely on my Facebook page, and wasn’t uploaded to my website. One of the bloggers also found his/her way to Nairaland to upload a screenshot of my Facebook post as well. Another blogger gave me credit for the post but erred in the appendage on the pictures. This is certainly wrong!

How did we get to this sorry pass as a nation? A country and people that do not place a high premium on intellectual work are heading for the dunghill. The phenomenon of instant gratification, without painstaking effort, is distorting lives and eroding values among the youth. It’s quite easy for my generation to cry about a lack of opportunities and blame the political elite for the decades of rot in our system, however the truth must be told that there is a lot of irresponsible behaviour among so many these days and in this clime which inhibits the sort of progress enjoyed by earlier generations.

You can blog with distinction through original value driven content, and be successful.

Although, the EFCC is battling with fraud of immense proportions by ‘419ers’ and corrupt politicians, yet there is the need for us as a nation to pay closer scrutiny to the activities of some of the young men and women who nowadays have found a new line of vocation in blogging. The unfortunate thing about this group is the modus operandi employed to achieve their objectives: I’m not certain it’s just the conventional Get-Rich-Quick-Syndrome, and I sincerely believe it’s partly due to the lack of purpose and direction on the part of some. How does one explain the situation of a young man in the most productive season of his life prowling the internet for ‘just any content’ that will drive traffic to his site?

I am not certain there is a lot of knowledge or enlightenment on the subject of plagiarism and its consequences in Nigeria, otherwise it wouldn’t thrive in this manner. It is not out of place to want to upload all sorts of “interesting” content to your blog, but when you have not originally generated this content, at least kindly seek the permission of the author/owner of such, or give credit to its source in your publication. It is time for a common sense revolution in this country; I have watched, with delight, interviews with bloggers from different parts of the world on foreign media outlets. You can blog with distinction through original value driven content, and be successful. If you’re not sure of God’s purpose for your life, please seek Him out and ask; blogging is not for everyone.