ON “NO MUSIC DAY” COSON CALLS FOR A NEW NIGERIA DRIVEN BY KNOWLEDGE AND CREATIVITY

ON “NO MUSIC DAY” COSON CALLS FOR A NEW NIGERIA DRIVEN BY KNOWLEDGE AND CREATIVITY

Thursday September 1, 2016 was widely celebrated in Nigeria as “No Music Day”In line with the request by Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), many broadcast stations across the country stopped the broadcast of music between the hours of 8am and 10am as a mark of solidarity with the nation’s creative industries which have suffered immensely from the debilitating infringement of copyright. Rather than broadcast music, the stations dedicated the time belt to the broadcast of interviews, documentaries, debates and discussions on the rights of creative people and the potential contributions of creative activities to the national economy. Several newspapers and magazines also published special features on these issues in the coming days. COSON members across the country also observed a one day hunger strike as flags at COSON Headquarters in Lagos flew at half-mast.

There was vibrant media presence at the big ‘open house’ event held at COSON Headquarters which event was attended by several artistes. In the official address on‘the State of the Nigerian Music Industry’, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okorojicalled for a new Nigeria driven by knowledge and creativity. Said Okoroji, “today, we demand 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 of what rightly 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 a unique style 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.”

To create a new environment for the music industry to thrive, COSON made the following specific demands:

1.  President Buhari should order the Hon Minister of Finance and the Attorney-General of the Federation to ensure the full implementation of the Private Copy Levy scheme without any further delay.

2.  The Nigerian Communications Commission should make it very clear to all telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria that henceforth, there will be zero tolerance for the infringement of the Intellectual Property rights of Nigerian citizens whose works are deployed by these companies.

3.  The Minister of Information & Culture and the different state Governors should make it clear to all Federal Government and State owned broadcasting stations respectively, and other government institutions that there is no provision of the law that exempts them from the payment of royalties for the musical content broadcast or deployed by them.

4.  The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should, as a matter of urgency, be ordered to take necessary steps to begin the take down of the several pirate websites bastardizing Nigerian Intellectual Property on the Internet.

5.  President Buhari should instruct the Ministers of Industry, Trade & Investment, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act swiftly to ensure that the brazen and massive piracy of Nigerian music, movies and literature across our continent are no longer tolerated.

6.  The Nigerian Copyright Commission should be empowered to pivot towards the effective implementation of anti-piracy measures in the digital environment.

7.  The National Assembly should act with despatch to ensure the promulgation into law of the new Copyright Bill which contains several provisions to properly deal with the infringement of copyright in the digital era.

8.  Necessary action should be taken to get the National Endowment Fund for the Arts up and running so that there are resources to take care of funding for creative projects and the welfare of creative people who have fallen into hard times.

No Music Day 2016 may have come and gone but the reverberations will be heard for a long-long time.

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.

We believe that President MuhammaduBuhari can give a marching order to both his Vice President, Prof YemiOsinbajo who has the training and the intellect to fully grasp the issues and our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama who for several years was a respected Director at the World intellectual Property Organization to create real change in Nigeria. These gentlemen have the ability to kick start an intellectual property and creative revolution in our country which can change the story of Nigeria forever. Then we can inspire our citizens to create and invent things of value with the assurance that every creativity and inventor will be protected by the nation and every creator and inventor can enjoy the fruits of his or her labour. We will then have taken a major step in assuring domestic and international investors that Nigeria is no longer a nation of ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ and that we are ready for the knowledge and digital economy.