Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has promised members of COSON that they will witness a great year in 2021. In his New Year message to the society, Chief Okoroji thanked the members of COSON across the nation, the Board and the entire management of the society for their unflinching determination to ensure that COSON is not damaged but continues to be a great example of how a creative industry organization should be run.
Chief Okoroji assured all members of COSON that the organization will robustly protect their interests in 2021 and carry out the instructions of the General Assembly to restore the rights of every genuine member of COSON to receive royalties from the society and work relentlessly towards increasing the distributable income to members and affiliates. Said Okoroji, “In 2021, the COSON mantra, ‘let the music pay!’ will be heard loudly across the nation and in affirmation, people will bear witness in the famous words, ‘COSON is working!’.
The Chairman vowed to do everything in his power to make sure that COSON continues to be an exemplary Nigerian organization, maintaining complete transparency and accountability and safeguarding the culture of respect for intellectual property rights which it has vigorously promoted in Nigeria.
In the words of Chief Okoroji, “Yes, the terrain is rough, so we are tough. The more they have tried to scatter us, the more they have bonded us together. As long as what we are doing is right, we cannot give up. The fact that arrows are being fired at us by those who have nothing to offer and nothing to give to our stakeholders, should make us stronger. Those of us charged with providing leadership to our great society cannot be lily-livered or cowardly. On the long run, we will be judged by the results we produce. We must be ready to make any sacrifice and take any bullet and earn the confidence reposed in us. We cannot afford just to be talkers. We must be doers driving on a full tank of faith”.
According to Okoroji, his optimism in the strong possibilities in COSON in the new year is based on the fact that most of the critical issues have been litigated, COSON has remained solid as a rock and decisions that should affect the direction of collective management of copyright in Nigeria ought to come in 2021.
According to the former president of PMAN and respected author of ‘Copyright & the New Millionaires’, “for most of 2020, we marched with the issues to the courts and with our lawyers, systematically and diligently argued our positions with the facts and the law. I verily believe that in 2021, the courts will remove the obstacles that have limited the sustainable growth of collective management of copyright in Nigeria resulting in measurable positive impact on the lives of practitioners in the Nigerian creative industry”
Chief Okoroji wished members of COSON and their families good health and progress in 2021 and concluded by saying, “Everybody in Nigeria by now knows that even with all the shackles and obstacles placed on our way, COSON has, year after year, remained by far the No. 1 organization in the Nigerian creative industry, with no help whatsoever from the government, a position that makes all of us members of COSON very proud”.