News – COSON

FULL TEXT OF THE 2023 NO MUSIC DAY BROADCAST

“NO STOPPING IN MAKING THE MUSIC PAY”

“NO MUSIC DAY” 2023 OFFICIAL BROADCAST

Made on behalf of the Nigerian Music Industry from COSON HOUSE by the Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria, Chief Tony Okoroji.

Hello Everyone,

This Friday, September 1, 2023, the Nigerian music industry once again marks “No Music Day”. Let us recap that “No Music Day” is a day that the industry in Nigeria has dedicated annually to bringing the attention of the Nigerian nation to the widespread infringement of the rights of songwriters, composers, performers, music publishers, record labels and other stakeholders in the nation’s creative industry.

You may ask: Why is September 1 called “No Music Day”?

Exactly 14 years ago, on September 1, 2009, practitioners in the entire Nigerian creative family massed in front of the National Theatre in Lagos and for days, refused to eat or drink and demanded that the over 400 licensed broadcast stations in the country, who use music as the key raw material for their operations, should not broadcast music for a significant period of that day. So began what we have celebrated every year since, as “No Music Day”.

The mass hunger strike was a result of our frustration with the devastating level of intellectual property theft which is a malignant symptom of what has become a general national malady. Everywhere around us, people are trying to reap where they did not sow and comfortably stealing what does not belong to them and this has manifested in endemic corruption that threatens to ruin our nation.

Every year, in marking “No Music Day”, our key objective has been to engage the Nigerian people and the various governments on the potential contributions of Nigerian creativity to the development of the Nigerian nation and the necessity to fully deploy the substantial comparative advantage which our nation possesses in this area so as to provide hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs to the teeming masses of Nigerian youth who parade the streets of our country almost hopelessly and which hopelessness invariably attracts them to become laborers in the devil’s workshop.

The truth is that nothing is wrong with our genes. While our politicians and so called leaders, with their take-everything and give-nothing-in-return mentality, have left millions of Nigerians with devastating hunger, joblessness and unknown gunmen everywhere, several young Nigerians are flexing their muscles in different parts of the world and soaring in diverse fields.

Asake, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Flavour and many more are taking what is today called afro beat to the world and filling huge venues with rapturous fans paying pounds and dollars to see them. Bukayo Saka, the Arsenal player who now wears the shirt of the English national football team, is born of Nigerian parents. Victor Osimhen who is the top scorer in the very competitive Italian Football League is a full-blooded Nigerian. Taiwo Awoniyi who amazingly just scored in 7 consecutive premiership games for Nottingham Forest is a Nigerian. Tobi Amusan who holds the World Record in 100 meters Hurdles is a Nigerian. Anthony Joshua, the famous boxer has Nigerian genes. The internationally celebrated writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian.

The fact is that none of the Nigerians mentioned here became successful as a result of any contribution or assistance of the Nigerian government or any of our numerous government agencies continuously expending millions of naira of public funds. Every Nigerian star across the world who has made it has made it on his or her own.

The tragedy of our development or the lack of it, is that when the government or any of its agencies touches any great idea, that idea is sentenced to failure. The reason is simple: The average Nigerian public official is not programmed to work for the public good. His focus is to corrupt any good idea and look for how to deploy the idea to grab whatever he can grab for himself, his family and friends.

COSON is a shining example of how public officials behave towards good ideas in Nigeria. Through a lot of toil and hard work, we built COSON into the biggest and most successful copyright collective management organization in Nigeria’s history and one of the most respected in Africa, an organization admired across the world. COSON distributed hundreds of millions of Naira every year to musicians across Nigeria, some of them famous and a lot of them in the growth period of their careers. We built the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja without borrowing any money and without any government help whatsoever.

Lo and behold, our success became our albatross as every group you can imagine began to conspire to hijack COSON, take over the organization, and in the typical Nigerian fashion, suck it and milk it dry. We said no and the government agency we campaigned vigorously to be set up, an agency that was supposed to protect us, joined our adversaries, deployed powers they do not have under the law and took every imaginable step to annihilate us. Some officials of the government devised ‘divide and rule’ tactics to infiltrate our leadership, some planning to retire into COSON when they leave government. In all of these, they spared no thought for the enormous harm they were doing to our constituency and the billions of naira they have cost the musicians they are supposed to be in office to lift up. Sadly, they never cared that they are choking us and would not let us breath. At the end of the day, it has become clear that the musicians would have done much better without this government agency.

What has happened to COSON has happened to several other organizations and individuals in Nigeria faced with officials of government who see their role not as agents of growth in position to lift up institutions and individuals. These officials are in every sense self-centered agents set to pull down good institutions, good ideas and good individuals and feast on their carcass.

COSON members across the country are hereby applauded for the great example they have shown and their steadfast resistance of the massive efforts to hijack their organization or to kill it. They are also applauded for their support of the COSON leadership in the midst of the lawless assault by rapacious agents deploying state apparatus to take over the great organization we have built. Every time I pray, I pray for the members of COSON.

Once again, I make this broadcast from COSON House in Ikeja which is property that belongs 100% to the creative people of Nigeria and which shows what we can do when we work together. I wish to state that I am proud of the members of COSON, everywhere in Nigeria, our Board members, and the indefatigable Management team at COSON. COSON has continued to thrive because we have not allowed anyone to tear us apart which underlines the truism in the words, “United we stand, divided we fall”.

On this “No Music Day”, I restate the determination of COSON to remain a transparent and law -abiding agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the music industry in Nigeria with the determination to shield the Nigerian music industry from scammers and marauders who work day and night to turn collective management of copyright into their personal cash cow and naira gushing ATM.

Yes, on this “No Music Day 2023”, I wish to assure the thousands of members of COSON across the country, that the season of the locust is practically over and that every step is being taken to make sure that the music begins to pay again without delay.

On this “No Music Day”, I call on the true creatives of Nigeria to borrow a leaf from COSON, bind together and work together for the good of all and to resist those who work day and night to divide us so that they can feast on that division. Nigerian musicians must continue to conquer territories and soar in every part of the world. Nigerian movies must be dominant everywhere we go. Nigerian fashion must be the toast of people in every part of the world. Nigerian sportsmen must conquer in every field, on every track, every court and every ring. Nigerian content must be the reference point on every platform.

We very much recognize the deep despair in the land, the hunger that threatens the life of millions of Nigerians, the insecurity that has snatched the lives of so many of our countrymen and the anguish under which many Nigerians wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. Nigerian creatives cannot afford to give up. We must work hard together for the unity of our country and the progress of our nation. We must contribute to making Nigeria a nation in which people do not brazenly reap where they did not sow and comfortably steal what does not belong to them and amass wealth which they have not earned.

We cannot afford to give up as a nation despite the immense disappointments we have faced. All of Nigeria’s creative people must today fully engage in preventing Nigeria from becoming a wasted land destroyed by hatred and suspicion and the narrow tribal ambitions of a hand-full of people.

On this “No Music Day 2023”, I pray for all Nigerians who are going through trials, tribulations and hardship and beg the Almighty to please meet their needs. God bless the Nigerian Creative Industry and God bless the great people of Nigeria.

CHIEF TONY OKOROJI:

September 1, 2023

BREAKING NEWS!!!

FEDERAL HIGH COURT NAILS THE ‘COFFIN’ OF EFE OMOROGBE’S AMBITION TO BE COSON CHAIRMAN

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos this Wednesday, July 12, 2023, has brought to an end the 5-year-old battle of one Efe Omorogbe to be declared Chairman of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON). Hon Justice Olayinka Faji of the court in a long-expected decision has dismissed SUIT NO: FHC/L/CS/1779/2018 brought by Efe Omorogbe to be declared Chairman of COSON and stated that the suit is an abuse of court process. Justice Faji also awarded a cost of N750,000.00 against Mr. Omorogbe and his co – plaintiffs which cost he said must be paid within 7 days.

Mr. Omorogbe had been joined in the failed suit by Mr. Obi Asika, Mr. Audu Maikori, Mr. Dare Fasasi, Alhaji Sikiru Agbola and Mr. Joel Ajayi, all former members of the COSON Board. They had asked the court to declare that they were still Directors of COSON. All the plaintiffs were removed from the COSON Board by a COSON Extra- Ordinary General Meeting held in December 2017 which restored Chief Tony Okoroji as Chairman of COSON and removed Efe Omorgbe & Co for allegedly plotting and executing a ‘coup’ to topple the Chairman of COSON from his position.

It will be recalled that another Federal High Court judge sitting in Enugu had before now ordered Mr. Omorogbe to stop parading himself as COSON Chairman, an order which still subsists.

Reacting to the decision of Justice Faji, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, said, “I am of course very happy about another victory at the courts. I wish to thank Justice Faji for his well-reasoned decision. I know that there are friends of COSON who were worried that the disagreements within COSON would lead to the weakening or disintegration of this great private sector Nigerian institution respected internationally. The truth is that subjecting the issues to the examination of the courts has made COSON stronger. The Board is today very stable. The membership has continued to grow. The management is top class and I guarantee that great work will continue to go on at COSON for the benefit of all COSON members and the Nigerian state.

“With the intervention of the courts, the dos and don’ts have become clearer to our industry. We have proven that everyone must pay a price for “jankara” behaviour and that such behaviour has no place in a civilized society. The calm and patient legal steps we have continued to take prove that everyone must follow due process and not react to uncontrolled temperaments. Our continued success shows that there are very good judges in our judiciary and not everyone is corrupt or inefficient. It is critical that the judiciary continues to prevent anarchy in the society. That is one of the great legacies I hope we will leave for the next generation.”

The COSON Board is currently made up of the Chairman and celebrated fighter for the rights of creative people in Africa and former President of PMAN, Chief Tony Okoroji; Afro-Juju Superstar, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel also known as Koffi Da Guru; Singer, Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono and well-known Enugu based music toaster and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

Also on the Board is the music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul, Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi and National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson.

COSON was represented at the Federal High Court by Mr. James Ononiwu and Mr. M.H. Obat-emi of Whitedove Solicitors while Mr. Efe Omorogbe and Co were represented by Mr. Oladapo Ademola of AOA Legal & Advocates.

COSON CRUSHES CROSS RIVER STATE GOVERNMENT AT COURT OF APPEAL! AWARD OF HALF A BILLION NAIRA TO COSON FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AT THE CALABAR CARNIVAL IS AFFIRMED

There is big jubilation at COSON House as the Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar this Monday, June 26, 2023, affirmed the 2018 judgment of the Federal High Court awarding the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) to Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization. The award is for copyright infringement at the Calabar Carnival and Festival.,

COSON which represents thousands of owners of copyright in musical works and sound recordings in Nigeria and also represents the music repertoire of several collective management organizations across the world, in 2014 instituted Suit No: FHC/C/CA/15/2014 against the Cross River State Government and the Cross River State Carnival Commission for copyright infringement in their unlicensed copying, communication to the public and broadcast of the musical works and sound recordings belonging to the members, affiliates, assignors and licensors of COSON at the yearly Calabar Carnival and Festival.

The Federal High Court, Calabar on April 30, 2018, entered judgment in favour of COSON for the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira). The Court also ordered a perpetual injunction restraining the deployment of musical works in the COSON repertoire, at the Calabar Carnival, without valid authorization.

The Cross River State Government and the Carnival Commission which lost to COSON at the Federal High Court thereafter appealed the judgment, an appeal which they have also lost with the affirmation of the Federal High Court decision by the Court of Appeal.

Reacting to the Court of Appeal judgment, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji who travelled to Calabar several times because of the case and stood as witness to COSON during the trial, thanked the panel of justices of the Court of Appeal for affirming the intellectual property rights of creative people in Nigeria and stating it loudly that in Nigeria, no one is above the law, not even state governments.

Said Okoroji, “it took us 9 solid years of stringent legal battle to win this historic victory for Nigerian musicians and the entire Nigerian creative family. It is our legacy for the coming generation.

“Our unshaking commitment and resilience are at the heart of this important victory. The monetary award is important but more important is the precedent set by the courts. It might seem expensive to obtain a licence to publicly deploy musical works, but it is far more expensive not to get such a licence”.

A very happy COSON General Manager, Mrs. Bernice Eriemeghe Ashibuogwu also reacted, saying, “This is another warning to all those who think that COSON will tire or give up in the pursuit of the rights of our members. No! … No!! We will steadfastly follow up each case for as long as it takes to obtain victory for our members. Our consistent court victories should be a real warning to all that it is very dangerous to bet against COSON”.

“MEMBERS OF COSON HAVE PROVED TO NIGERIANS THAT THE RAMPAGING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL BANDITS, MARAUDERS, AND SCAMMERS OPERATING IN OUR COUNTRY CAN BE FOUGHT HEADLONG AND WITHOUT FEAR”

– EXCERPTS FROM THE ADDRESS OF COSON CHAIRMAN, CHIEF TONY OKOROJI, TO THE COSON AGM HELD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have been unflinching, unwavering and unapologetic in building and maintaining COSON and ensuring that COSON is a world standard institution and a first-class organization that protects and promotes the rights of creative people in the Nigerian music industry and the music industry across the world, with utmost transparency.

The roots of COSON are strong. We have made COSON not just a copyright collective management organization but moulded it into a strong family of thousands of creative people spread across Nigeria who look after each other. Without doubt, COSON is the most solid and formidable organization the Nigerian creative industry has ever built.

If you ask: What is the secret of the staying power of COSON, my answer will be:

1.Transparency; 2. Our care and love for each other; 3. The trust and belief of a large majority of our membership in the Leadership, Board and Management; 4. Our insistence on never bending our rules or the law, no matter whose ox is gored and 5. Our clear knowledge of the law and our lack of cowardice to deploy the law in full, to right all wrongs against us and to take on anyone determined to mess with the interest or the rights of our members or our society.

I am aware that the rapid success of COSON has dazzled so many. The facts are that we surprised many at the speed and dexterity with which we brought together thousands of creative people, assembled millions of works, both local and international, thereby creating a breath-taking repertoire and library. We built and equipped the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja with the most modern technology without borrowing one ‘shi-shi’ and set up a management team of well-trained accountants, lawyers, copyright experts, statisticians and other world class professionals.

Every single year since the incorporation of COSON, we have had our accounts professionally audited. Recently, COSON invited one of the most respected accounting firms in the world and subjected itself to a complete 7-month forensic audit, something no other organization in the history of the Nigerian creative industry has ever done. COSON has distributed hundreds of millions of Naira in copyright royalties to music industry stakeholders spread across the country even in the era of the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown. Indeed, COSON has done what many thought could never be done in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, because of the vicious nature of the Nigerian political environment, our success became our albatross. COSON, seen as an incredible Nigerian success story, began to attract envy and the usual Nigerian ‘bad-belle’. Some top officers of the Nigerian government were told that COSON is a gold mine. So, they began to work assiduously with some fraudsters within our industry to appropriate the organization for themselves and their friends. Determined to make COSON their private ATM, they twisted and mutilated the law, turned it upside down and started issuing instructions to COSON not based on Nigerian law or the constitution. In a bad display of self-help, even when the issues are before courts of competent jurisdictions, they have tried to over-reach the courts.

These officials and their friends have used every subterfuge to turn COSON, an independent private sector organization, into their private cash cow. Of course, we have said, “No Way!”COSON is an organization set up without one penny of government money and with the clear objective of making life better for musicians all over Nigeria. It is common knowledge that they have tried to determine the leadership and agenda of COSON in Abuja and force it on us, so that some people may fill their private pockets with copyright royalties at the expense of the musicians of Nigeria. We have said, “No Way!”It is well known that COSON has been targeted for seizure or destruction in recent years and every dubious tactic, including rabid defamation, lawless freezing of accounts to make sure that COSON has no money to operate or distribute and inexplicable deployment of the nation’s security agencies to harass and torture the leadership and staff of COSON, have been unleashed so as to grab control of COSON, kidnap the resources of the organization and if they fail, grind its lawful operations to a halt. We have said “No Way!”We have had to deploy the law, like no other organization in the history of Nigeria, to form a bulwark against the people, in and out of government, whose modus operandi has been to grab everything in Nigeria for themselves, their friends and families with no thought of the other people of Nigeria, the young people of our nation, our children and grandchildren. To them, we have said, “No Way!” We have been to practically every court, everywhere in the land and held our heads high. Without the decisions of those distinguished Judges of the Courts who remain committed to truth and justice, COSON, this great pan Nigerian organization that has become the nation’s most formidable agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the creative industry in Nigeria, would since have been sucked dry and wiped away.

I remember being warned to get out of the way or I will be crushed by the power of the state. It is well known that I have been harassed, tormented, abducted, and brutalized every which way. I have made it clear that I am prepared to lay down my life in the defence of the rights of the creative people of Nigeria. It is my firm belief that no great nation on earth has been built by cowards.I am proud of the members of COSON, everywhere in Nigeria, our Board members, and the Management team at COSON.

The support of our members has been powerful, the unity within the Board is unrivalled and every working day, the Management team resumes at the ever sparkling and magnificent COSON House and makes sure that COSON is working, and all the key COSON processes are operating at international standard.

I want to assure members of COSON and our international partners that the period of the locust is almost at an end and that COSON will soon fully resume the distribution of royalties and benefits to our members and affiliates everywhere.

I beg every member of COSON to make sure that during the forthcoming general elections, we deploy our PVCs to elect a government that respects the rights of creative people and respects the rule of law so that COSON will continue to serve its members without any molestation or disturbance from the people whose true responsibility is to strengthen and support every purposeful Nigerian organization.

Every member of COSON should be proud that we have refused to be cowards and slaves in our country. Members of COSON have proved to Nigerians that the rampaging economic and political bandits, marauders, and scammers operating in our country can be fought headlong and without fear. I assure you that at the end of the day, all of us at COSON will have the last laugh as we create new sweet music, sing and dance in harmony and with pride let everybody hear those iconic words for which we are well known, “Let the music pay!”

COSON CONGRATULATES NIGERIANS ON THE NATION’S 62ND INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSSARY

As Nigeria marks the 62^nd anniversary of the nation’s independence, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization has sent a message of congratulations to all Nigerians.

In the goodwill message, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, said that despite the immense challenges faced by the Nigerian people, Nigerians must drive ahead with the knowledge that our nation has a new opportunity in the upcoming democratic process to right our wrongs and build a nation that provides a great future for our young people.

Said Chief Okoroji, “all over the world, the ingenuity of the Nigerian people continues to be on display. Our music, movies, literature, fashion, programming, and similar products of the creative endeavor are in substantial demand across the world. In the creative industry, Nigeria has significant comparative advantage. We only need patriots who have the vision, the passion, and the understanding of the new world to be in the right positions to spark the fire and change the national narrative. We ask for an end to the period of the locust in Nigeria when poor leadership without vision has held our country down.

“As we celebrate this Independence Anniversary, we call on all Nigerians, especially every member of COSON and all other groups and associations in the Nigerian creative industry to make sure that during the forthcoming general elections, we deploy our PVCs to elect a government that works for the Nigerian people and not against us; that respects the rights of creative people and respects the rule of law. That is the way to stop our nation from sliding into irreversible hopelessness.

“On this Independence Anniversary, we once again ask for a new Nigeria in which the people of wealth and influence are no longer those who have brazenly stolen the people’s wealth or scammed us and tricked us out of what rightfully belongs to us. We ask for a new Nigeria driven by knowledge and creativity. We want a new nation where a creative songwriter can depend on his creativity and live well; a good performer does not have to worry about how to feed his family; a talented filmmaker or actor will not be burdened by where his next rent will come from; a gifted author can become a millionaire and does not have to sweat at the thought of his children’s school fees and a fashion designer with unique talent can be celebrated for his or her creativity. We ask for a Nigeria in which a great photographer can be a man of means; an architect does not also have to be a builder to earn commensurate income from his talent; an inventor can live off his invention and a creator of content can thrive from the deployment of his content.

“We earnestly ask for a new Nigeria in which a lecturer is no longer ashamed to say that he teaches for a living. In other words, we demand a nation in which knowledge and creativity are celebrated.

“As we celebrate this Independence Anniversary we hold the hope that change can come to Nigeria and the labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain”.

“NO MUSIC DAY” 2022 OFFICIAL STATEMENT!!

“MUSIC IN A SOCIETY ON THE ROAD TO A SOCIO-POLITICAL REVOLUTION”

Issued on behalf of the Nigerian Music Industry from COSON HOUSE by the Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria, Chief Tony Okoroji.

This Thursday, September 1, 2022, the music industry in Nigeria once again marks “No Music Day”. It is our wish to remind everyone that “No Music Day” is a day that the industry in Nigeria has dedicated annually to bringing the attention of the Nigerian nation to the widespread infringement of the rights of songwriters, composers, performers, music publishers, record labels and other stakeholders in the nation’s creative industry. You may hear voices of disputes and disagreements or different approaches to addressing the challenges of our industry, but we are united, we are one and cannot be separated in our demand and determination to end the reckless and rabid stealing of the fruits of the labour of Nigeria’s creative people.

Lest we forget, “No Music Day” is traceable to that historic week in 2009 when Nigerian artistes of different shades and many of our friends embarked on a weeklong hunger-strike staged in front of the National Theatre, Lagos. The hunger strike which was a result of our frustration with the devastating level of intellectual property theft in Nigeria was the prelude to what has become known as “No Music Day” in Nigeria. On September 1, 2009, practitioners in the entire Nigerian creative family massed in front of the National Theatre and for days, refused to eat or drink and demanded that the over 400 licensed broadcast stations in the country, who use music as the key raw material for their operations, should not broadcast music for a significant period of a day.

While we have used music as our point of contact, our protest is hinged on the fact that if Nigeria must make serious economic progress, we should stop the platitudes and take strong national action against the violation of the rights of not just musicians, but the violation of the rights of authors, publishers, actors, movie producers, photographers, architects, computer programmers, visual artists and designers of all types and indeed, the violation of the rights of all Nigerians.

As we mark “No Music Day” across the country this September 1, COSON has also asked our thousands of members all over Nigeria and other stakeholders in the music industry to engage with the public through the mass media and by vigorous deployment of our immense social media handles to register our disdain for the widespread contempt for the rights of creative people in Nigeria.

As we mark “No Music Day” today, we once again ask all Nigerians to seriously think about a world without music. What kind of world would that be?

Everywhere you go, the ingenuity of the Nigerian people continues to be on display. Our music, movies, literature, fashion, programming, and similar products of the creative endeavor are in substantial demand across the world. In the creative industry, Nigeria has significant comparative advantage. We are only asking for people who have the vision, the passion, and the understanding of the new world to be in the right positions to spark the fire and change the national narrative. We ask for an end to the period of the locust in Nigeria when poor leadership without vision has held our country down.

In marking “No Music Day” 2022, we once again ask for a new Nigeria in which the people of wealth and influence are no longer those who have brazenly stolen the people’s wealth or scammed other people and tricked them out of what rightfully belongs to them. We ask for a Nigeria driven by knowledge and creativity. We want a nation where a creative songwriter can depend on his creativity and live well; a good performer does not have to worry about how to feed his family; a talented filmmaker or actor will not be burdened by where his next rent will come from; a gifted author can become a millionaire and does not have to sweat at the thought of his children’s school fees and a fashion designer with unique talent can be celebrated for his or her creativity. We ask for a Nigeria in which a great photographer can be a man of means; an architect does not also have to be a builder to earn commensurate income from his talent; an inventor can live off his invention and a creator of content can thrive from the deployment of his content.

We earnestly ask for a Nigeria in which a lecturer is no longer ashamed to say that he teaches for a living. In other words, we demand a nation in which knowledge and creativity are celebrated.

For many years, some of us in the creative industries have continuously requested a proper engagement with the government so that we can unleash the burning latent energy of the creative geniuses that abound in our nation and to deploy that energy towards national development.

Our theme for the 2022 “No Music Day” is: “MUSIC IN A SOCIETY ON THE ROAD TO A SOCIO-POLITICAL REVOLUTION”

We would all agree that a world without music should be likened to a graveyard. What is the greatest analgesic that cures the pain of our depression, anger and frustration? MUSIC!

I must remind Nigerian musicians that our problems will not be solved until we stop the unnecessary bickering and fractionalization in our industry. It is the bickering and disunity that are exploited by those who have no real stake in our industry except to deploy divide and rule to milk us and keep us down. We must work together in the interest of our country and the young people who look towards us for guidance. We must understand that in a democracy, there will be alternative points of view. Each alternative view should not result in the setting up of an alternative faction.

On this “No Music Day”, we continue to demand real change. We once again demand that the Nigerian nation addresses the following:

1) Implement the Private Copy Levy scheme which after many years and repeated calls, has still not been implemented.

2) Ensure that necessary steps are taken to finally get the National Endowment Fund for the Arts operative to provide urgently needed resources to ensure the funding of creative projects in Nigeria.

3) Ensure that Government owned broadcasting stations and other government owned institutions are reminded that there is no provision under the law that exempts them from the payment of royalties for the musical content broadcast or deployed by them.

4) Ensure that the Nigerian Copyright Commission and other institutions of government pivot towards the effective implementation of anti-piracy measures in the digital environment which is where the bulk of piracy exists today.

We believe that the time has come for our creative industry to go beyond simply providing entertainment to the public but playing a key role in nation building.

We are saddened by the dangerous direction that our nation has been headed in recent times and the hopelessness that seems to engulf the citizens. We are saddened by the tribal and religious divisions, kidnappings, senseless killings, abductions, banditry, joblessness and the political and judicial rascality that sap the hope of our young people.

We cannot afford to give up as a nation despite the immense disappointments we have faced. We must no longer leave our nation solely in the hands of our political job men who have shown frightening incapacity to move Nigeria forward and who are driving us to the precipice.

All of Nigeria’s creative people must today fully engage in preventing Nigeria from becoming a wasted land destroyed by hatred and suspicion and the narrow tribal ambitions of a hand-full of people.

On this “No Music Day”, we call on Nigeria’s musicians, actors, movie makers, writers, journalists, broadcasters, bloggers, intellectuals and all who operate in the creative space to deploy their talents and consciously work towards saving our people from impending doom.

In consonance with our theme, “MUSIC IN A SOCIETY ON THE ROAD TO A SOCIO-POLITICAL REVOLUTION”, It must be our foremost responsibility now to unleash a lot of music, movies, programs, broadcasts, speeches, etc., that create an environment for stability, unity, justice, peace, rule of law and development in the Nigerian nation and stop the slide into anarchy and hopelessness.

In building a new and better nation, creative people must play a central role, stand up, take responsibility, work together, establish the strong advocacy necessary in every democracy to create positive change.

On this “No Music Day”, I call on every member of COSON and all other groups and associations in the Nigerian creative industry to make sure that during the forthcoming general elections, we deploy our PVCs to elect a government that respects the rights of creative people and respects the rule of law. That is the way to stop our nation from sliding into irreversible hopelessness.

I make this broadcast from COSON House in Ikeja which is property that belongs 100% to the creative people of Nigeria and which shows what we can do when we work together. I wish to state that I am proud of the members of COSON, everywhere in Nigeria, our Board members, and the indefatigable Management team at COSON. COSON has continued to thrive because we have not allowed anyone to tear us apart which underlines the truism in the words, “United we stand, divided we fall”.

The support of COSON members has been powerful, the unity within the Board is unrivaled and every working day, the Management team resumes at the ever-sparkling COSON House and makes sure that COSON is working, and all the key COSON processes are operating at international standard.

I want to assure members of COSON that we have fought hard, and the period of the locust is almost at an end and that COSON will soon fully resume the distribution of royalties and benefits to our members across Nigeria.

Every member of COSON should be proud that we have shown everyone that we can lawfully but vehemently refuse to be cowards and slaves in our country and we have proved that every Nigerian group, association, tribe or people can resist the attempt by the rampaging gang of economic and political marauders and vampires who want to appropriate everything that belongs to Nigerians to themselves and hold all of us to ransom and destroy our country to which God has endowed with everything that a country needs to be great.

I assure the members of COSON that at the end of the day, we will have the last laugh as we create new, sweet music, dance and sing in harmony and with pride, let everybody hear those iconic words for which we are very well known, “Let the music pay!”

God bless the Nigerian Creative Industry and God bless the great people of Nigeria.

CHIEF TONY OKOROJI:

September 1, 2022

NO MUSIC DAY BROADCAST BY CHIEF TONY OKOROJI ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

COSON BOARD ASKS ACCESS BANK TO BE A GOOD CORPORATE CITIZEN AND OBEY COURT ORDERS AGAINST IT.

The full Board of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, rose from a meeting held at the Boardroom of COSON House in Ikeja, this Tuesday, June 14, 2022, calling on Access Bank Plc to be a good corporate citizen and ensure that all court orders against it are fully obeyed. The Board asked the Bank to understand that while it is a defendant in one case today, it will be a plaintiff in another case tomorrow and when it prevails, the bank will expect the other party to respect the judgment of the court. According to the Board, the respect for the rule of law is critical to the stability and progress of every nation.

It will be recalled that Justice Yellin S. Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in a celebrated judgment, recently ordered Access Bank Plc to immediately unfreeze the bank accounts of COSON at the bank and to pay COSON 70 million naira in damages for unlawful freezing of its accounts. Despite the order of Justice Bogoro and an earlier decision in 2019 by Justice M.S. Hassan, Access Bank has continued to withhold COSON’s funds which has resulted in the storming of the bank by angry musicians. Written instructions given to the bank by COSON to pay earned specific royalties to several musicians have also been disobeyed by the bank.

The Board pleaded for patience and restraint from musicians across Nigeria who have expressed dismay at the behaviour of Access Bank, assuring them that COSON will continue to engage with the bank to resolve the problem as expeditiously as possible. The COSON Board thanked the musicians who have participated in the street protests against Access Bank and those who have expressed interest in further protests saying that COSON is aware that there are many musicians who like COSON, are Access Bank customers and that the interest of COSON is not to bring down Access Bank or any other Nigerian institution but to ensure that every Nigerian institution respects the rights of creative people whose rights have been treated with contempt for too long in Nigeria.

The Board reaffirmed the determination of COSON to remain an agent of strength unity, progress and growth for the music industry in Nigeria and to shield the music industry from scammers and marauders who want to turn collective management of copyright to their personal cash cow and naira gushing ATM.

The Board meeting was presided over by the COSON Chairman, the celebrated and indefatigable fighter for the rights of creative people in Nigeria and Africa and former President of PMAN, Chief Tony Okoroji. Present were Afro Juju super star, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel also known as Koffi Da Guru; Singer, Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono and well-known Enugu based music star and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

Also present were Abuja based music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul, Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi, National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson, COSON General Manager, Mrs Bernice Eriemeghe Ashibuogwu; COSON Deputy General Manager, Mr Vincent Adawaisi and COSON General Counsel, Barrister Simi Wash-Pam.

COSON BOARD MEETS IN LAGOS AND RESOLVES THAT ALL MUSIC USERS BE INFORMED THAT COSON CONTINUES TO STAND FIRM LEGALLY AND THAT THE =N=10 BILLION SUIT AGAINST THE NCC HAS NOT BEEN TRIED, STRUCK OUT, DETERMINED NOR DISMISSED AND THAT COSON RENEWS THE CALL FOR THE SACK OF NCC DG, JOHN ASEIN.

The full Board of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, rose from its meeting held at the Boardroom of COSON House in Ikeja, this Tuesday, February 22, 2022, with several important decisions.

The meeting resolved that COSON members across the country, COSON partners across the world and the general public be informed that the determination of COSON to protect and defend the rights of its members and affiliates within the law, remains iron-clad and solid and that COSON will not waiver in the pursuit of justice.

The Board restated its commitment to making certain that every naira of royalty owed the members of COSON is collected and distributed appropriately within the shortest possible time reiterating that contrary to dubious propaganda, COSON has at no time been proscribed nor delisted by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and continues to operate lawfully.

The Board also decided that it be emphatically made public that COSON has not at any time ceded the rights to licence any of the hundreds of thousands of musical works and sound recordings lawfully assigned to it, to the controversial MCSN whose purported approval is still being stoutly challenged in court and that no one including the Nigerian Copyright Commission is empowered by law to authorize MCSN to licence works in the COSON repertoire and that anyone paying MCSN for the use of works in the COSON repertoire is doing so at his or her own very high risk.

The COSON Board also decided that the public be made aware that the =N=10 Billion suit filed against the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for unlawfully hounding COSON, the most successful and best managed organization ever set up by the Nigerian creative industry, has not been tried, struck out, determined nor dismissed and that the prayers of COSON remain live issues before the Court and that there is no way that COSON can be said to be operating unlawfully without the issues being determined and that the realities are not changed by the wilful misinterpretation of the facts by the NCC and its collaborating gang, who have contributed nothing to the music industry but at the expense of innocent copyright owners, want to deploy the commission to reap where they did not sow.

The Board also decided that President Mohammed Buhari be well reminded of the resolution by thousands of COSON members at the COSON AGM of December 14, 2021 calling on him to relieve Mr. John Asein, Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) of his position for fraud and conflict of interest and notifying him that Mr. Asein’s leadership of the NCC is infested with evil, leaving the commission to continuously go backwards instead of forward and that members of COSON have completely lost respect for the leadership of John Asein and that they are certain that the Copyright Commission can make no progress under him.

According to the Board, the NCC which was set up to protect the rights of copyright owners has become the greatest threat to those rights and a shining example of the lawlessness that pervades the country.

The Board applauded COSON members across the country for their steadfast support of COSON in the midst of the lawless assault on COSON and its leadership by 419 agents deploying state apparatus and bandits masquerading as officers of the law.

The Board also expressed pride that COSON remains the only organization in the the history of the Nigerian creative industry that has subjected itself to full financial audit every year since its inception and has gone ahead to subject itself to total forensic audit by one of the best- known auditing firms in the world.

The Board meeting was presided over by COSON Chairman, celebrated and indefatigable fighter for the rights of creative people in Nigeria and Africa and former President of PMAN, Chief Tony Okoroji. Present were Afro Juju super star, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel also known as Koffi Tha Guru; Singer, Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono and well-known Enugu based music publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

COSON WRITES SENATE PRESIDENT, DESCRIBES THE NEW EXECUTIVE COPYRIGHT BILL AS A DANGEROUS DOCUMENT INFESTED WITH MANY BAD AND ANTI-DEMOCRATIC PROVISIONS

A day before a hurriedly scheduled public hearing by the Nigerian Senate to discuss a new Executive Bill to replace Nigeria’s current copyright law, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), the nation’s biggest copyright collective management organization, has written to the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, complaining about the process and procedure of trying to pass the bill.

In the four-page letter signed by the COSON Chairman and former President of PMAN, Chief Tony Okoroji, COSON said that it is very clear that the Senate is being stampeded to pass a very dangerous bill infested with many bad and anti-democratic provisions that will stifle the growth of creativity in Nigeria and damage the Nigerian economy going forward.

According to the letter, the bill if passed into law, will turn Nigerian musicians, authors, film makers, computer programmers, publishers and the many creatives who depend on a good copyright system into the slaves of a few civil servants at the Nigerian Copyright Commission.

Said COSON “If Section 39 of the bill becomes law, in a supposed democracy, no copyright owner in Nigeria who negotiates or grants a licence for the use of his work, will be able to exercise his constitutional right of going to court anymore to enforce his rights, except he gets the permission of civil servants at the Nigerian Copyright Commission!”

Mentioning several sections of the bill, COSON wrote, “there are countless provisions in the bill giving the Nigerian Copyright Commission and its personnel such powers and privileges not possessed by any other government agency. A lot of these provisions are not in line with diverse public service rules. Indeed, in so many situations, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has put itself in the place of the owners of copyright to take decisions on behalf of the copyright owners which decisions are business decisions ordinarily taken by the owners of copyright or their agents.”

According to COSON, the commission neither has the competence, the staff, the technology, the lack of bias and has not shown over time that it has the slightest capacity to exercise the powers it is grabbing and the result will be utter confusion and frustration.

The letter said that under Section 104 (2), no one can bring any action against the Commission or any member of its staff on any matter whatsoever, whether private or official, except a three-month written notice of intention to commence the suit is served upon the Commission by the intending plaintiff or his agent. According to COSON, no government official or even any of Nigeria’s senators enjoys such privilege or protection.

Furthermore, the letter says that under Section 100 of the bill, if any citizen gets a judgment against the Commission, no execution or attachment of process can be issued against the Commission, unless prior to such execution, not less than three months’ notice of the intention to execute or attach has been given to the Commission.

COSON in the letter complained that it received for the first time by e-mail the 88-page document with 109 sections only three working days before the scheduled Public Hearing which incidentally is holding on October 12, the same day that COSON is holding a major event in Lagos to celebrate the life and times of Prof (Sir) Victor Uwaifo, one of Nigeria’s greatest creative geniuses of all times, who died on August 28 and will be buried this week.

The letter also pointed out that under Section 87 of the bill, Nigeria will start a new regime of the registration of copyright, which COSON says is “a totally unnecessary and anachronistic adventure and a very bad move”.

COSON adds that reading through the document, it is clear that it was drafted by Civil Servants with definite self-serving agenda and academics with very little copyright industry experience. According to the letter, “the contradictions and conflicts in the document are fundamental and not such that can be repaired by any panel beating. Indeed, the Head of Service of the Federation needs to look at the document to expunge the many anti-Public Service proposals. A very transparent process in which the true stakeholders are on the table needs to be commenced if the intent is not to suppress Nigeria’s creative output and kill our copyright industries”

In conclusion COSON wrote: “for the good of the Nigerian nation and posterity and not to make Nigeria the laughingstock of the world, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is requested not to put its imprimatur on the terrible piece of legislation known as the ‘Executive Copyright Bill’”.

See full letter