MEETING YOU: COSON APPROVES ADDITIONAL =N=22.5 MILLION FOR NIGE...

MEETING YOU: COSON APPROVES ADDITIONAL =N=22.5 MILLION FOR NIGE...: As a result of the extension of the lockdown across the country which has increased the hardship of the citizens and made entertainment ...

COSON APPROVES ADDITIONAL =N=22.5 MILLION FOR NIGERIAN MUSICIANS AS CORONAVIRUS RELIEF.

As a result of the extension of the lockdown across the country which has increased the hardship of the citizens and made entertainment activities impossible all over the nation, the Board of Nigeria’s biggest and most respected copyright collective management organization, COSON, has approved an additional sum of =N=22.5 Million as Anti-Coronavirus Emergency Relief Distribution to its members.This is in addition to the =N=50 Million originally approved.  

Speaking on the development, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji said, “starting immediately, with the co-operation of the banks, each of about 4,500 qualified members of COSON will receive an alert for an additional sum of Five Thousand Naira added to the initial sum of eleven thousand naira in the Anti-Coronavirus Emergency Relief (ACER) General Distribution. Those who for any reason have not received the initial Eleven Thousand Naira will receive a straight-forward Sixteen Thousand Naira. If this helps some of our members to buy some garri or some rice, we will be happy. We truly wish we could do more and we would have been able to do more if not for the constant irrational harassment and the many obstacles placed on our way by a government agency which has completely misunderstood its mandate. Is it not terrible that in these hard times,no one apart from COSON appears to be doing anything for the Nigerian artiste?

“I am in touch with many members of COSON who are in need of continued assistance. Other members of our Board are receiving similar messages. It is our sacred duty to provide for our members and we will not shake that duty. COSON must continue to be responsible and responsive to the needs of those we serve and there should be no excuse not to help them wade through thesevery difficult times.

“I am once again proud of the quick response of members of the COSON Board who have shown great understanding that we must continue to be our brothers’ keeper. I am also proud of the COSON management team of Vincent Adawaisi, Isa Aruna, Anthony Imuse and Tolu Balogun who have ensured that every instruction of the Board is executed with dispatch”. 

Said Chief Okoroji, “From the beginning, we took a decision that COSON would be a world class organization, transparent, accountable, credible and totally focused on the well-being of its members. Once you walk into the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja, you cannot but feel an organization run on the cutting edge of management and technology. The well laid out sparkling clean environment and the quality of the staff will immediately tell you that this is not your typical Nigerian organization. That is why some cannot stop themselves from throwing stones at us.

“I know that we cannot please everyone but we are working very hard every day to lift up the musicians of Nigeria, promote and defend our industry and provide visible solutions to the challenges of our members. I very well know that much of the attack on COSON is a product of envy. We have consistently done that which many thought was impossible in Nigeria. We have absolutely no interest in the cantankerous name calling and rabid character assassination which many appear to dwell in. We are not interested because none of the squabbling will provide one cup of rice for the Nigerian musician or one cube of sugar for his tea”.

Concluded Chief Okoroji, “I know that questions will be asked whether COSON can afford this additional palliative in the light of the present circumstances. My answer is that with prudent management, we can.It is fraud and stealing that make things impossible in Nigeria. In keeping with our tradition, no hanky-panky or shady dealing will be tolerated in the disbursements. I will continue to provide consistent updates. At the end of the exercise, the minutest details of the disbursements will be brought before the Board and the General Assembly for thorough examination and ratification”.

FOR COSON:

COSON LAWYER DESCRIBES THE MCSN ATTACK OF THE ONGOING COSON DISTRIBUTION OF =N=50 MILLION TO SUFFERING MUSICIANS AS WICKED AND EVIDENCE OF INCURABLE “BAD BELLE”

Mr. James Ononiwu, renowned lawyer to COSON, Nigeria’s biggest and most successful copyright collective management organization, has stoutly condemned the recent attack by the leadership of Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN), of the ongoing distribution of =N=50 Million Naira by COSON to musicians across the country who are traumatized by the Coronavirus lockdown.

In a swift response to the attack, Mr. James Ononiwu. Principal Partner in the Lagos law firm of Whitedove Solicitors, described the attack as “wicked, despicable and evidence of incurable bad belle”

Mr. Ononiwu wondered how any musician or anyone who claims to love musicians can find fault with the responsible and responsive action taken by the leadership of COSON to alleviate the suffering of their members across the country at a time of their greatest need. Said Mr. Ononiwu, “the unquestionably positive reactions of hundreds of musicians and thousands of other Nigerians to the brilliant step taken by the COSON Board can be found on every social media platform and practically every newspaper in the land. Many musicians in every state of Nigeria are happy and openly praying for the leadership of COSON. Why is that disturbing the sleep of these funny people at MCSN? Did COSON distribute MCSN money? This is not the first or second or third royalty distribution by COSON, an organization that has distributed hundreds of millions of naira to its members and commissioned the sparkling and magnificent COSON House while MCSN has little or nothing to show except never ending bad belle. Can’t the people at MCSN see that this is no time for their degenerate brand of politics? What is the business of a CMO if not to collect and distribute royalties?”

Said the fiery Lagos lawyer, “This a defining moment in the affairs of man. Across the world, true leaders are being seen for who they are and retrogrades are also being seen. COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, has once again displayed the attributes of a first-class leader that has made him a Nigerian icon. His understanding of the situation, his humanness, decisiveness and the detailed and transparent execution of the relief distribution will certainly go down in the history of the Nigerian creative industry and the nation.

“Meanwhile, the leaders of MCSN who were sleeping while Nigerians have been going through a harrowing experience, suddenly woke up from their slumber and kick started their usual grumbling and quarreling and finger pointing and rabble rousing while people are in deep pain. Can’t they see that this is no time for such nonsense? Don’t these guys know when to shut up? Don’t they have any milk of human kindness in them at all? I know that thousands of musicians across Nigeria have received their royalties while some have not. I wish to assure every COSON member who is yet to receive his relief royalty that MCSN cannot stop the distribution and that their money is on the way”

In conclusion, Mr. Ononiwu said, “I have seen the litany of cases mentioned in the ill-advised press statement issued by the leadership of MCSN and their jaundiced and self-serving reasoning and claims. I am a lawyer and I know that in Nigeria, we do not try cases on social media platforms or blogs. If these guys who have shown no modicum of empathy for the suffering of the musicians they claim to represent, truly believe that COSON has done something wrong, let them meet us in court. I and other COSON lawyers will be waiting for them”.

UDEGBUNAM BOMBS PRETTY OKAFOR, SAYS: COSON REMAINS SOLID AS A ROCK

Frontline COSON Board member, Honourable John Ewelukwa Udegbunam is angry at what he has termed a propaganda war unleashed by the factional leader of PMAN, Mr. Pretty Okafor and his cronies against COSON. In a scatting public statement, Udegbunam described Pretty Okafor as “the entertainment industry’s blatant Minister of Confusion, Disinformation & Fabrication”. The propaganda war which allegedly is being orchestrated from “Okafor’s decadent PMAN which has no known office address” is that there is ongoing significant withdrawal of rights from COSON in support of the action of the NCC against COSON which Udegbunam describes as totally misguided.

Until recently, Udegbunam was the National President of the powerful Music Label Owners & Recording Industries Association of Nigeria (MORAN), Nigeria’s biggest association of owners of copyright in sound recordings. From inception, he has been a member of the Management Board of COSON, Nigeria’s most respected and successful copyright collective management organization. He is a trained musicologist, composer, music teacher, producer and label owner and National Music Director of the Praise & Worship Ministry of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN).  

Hon. Udegbunam in his account states that the demarcation of rights is an everyday occurrence in collective management organizations across the world and that those who have recently demarcated their rights in COSON have a right to do so and COSON has no quarrel with them. In his words, “these right owners constitute less than 0.2% of the entire membership of COSON and to use this to mount the propaganda that members are running from COSON is very mischievous. I know for certain that no member of COSON has resigned his membership of the society in recent times rather, artistes continue to join COSON in droves because they know that COSON is solid, responsible, transparent and responsive and is in the frontline of stoutly defending the rights of its members and providing succor for them in their times of need. Without question, there is no other institution in the Nigerian creative industry like COSON”.

Continued Udegbunam, “I am aware that because of the ‘fire’ burning at the NCC in Abuja with the exposure of the frightening corruption and flagrant abuse of power of the leadership of that government institution, some charlatans who have sold their souls and the music industry for some pieces of silver have  been hired to throw stones at COSON in an effort to deflect the ongoing investigation of the activities of the DG of the NCC and destroy the image of COSON. They are working together with those who failed woefully in their attempt to hijack the leadership of COSON in 2017. We are not unaware that recently, Pretty Okafor, the Facebook PMAN President with minute followership, visited the very tainted NCC leadership in Abuja to receive his instructions. Their gambit to deflect attention from the investigation of the NCC DG will not work because the evidence against the DG is overwhelming and unassailable and nothing will stop the music industry from doing its sacred duty of continuously and vigorously drawing the attention of the Nigerian people, the international copyright community and the government to the corruption at the NCC until the law takes its proper course”

Asked the music industry leader popularly known as Eweson, “Is it not strange that Pretty Okafor never talks about PMAN which he purports to lead? All he sings about every day, from morning to night, is COSON of which he is not even a member and to which he has assigned no rights”. What exactly is Okafor’s claim to being a musician… is the chorus voice he did for his late friend, Junior, in “Bolanle”, recorded over 25 years ago?”

Without pulling any punches, Honourable Udegbunam says “with respect to the wild actions of the NCC against COSON, the issues are before a court of competent jurisdiction. Sooner or later, judgment will be delivered. Those who have followed COSON know that it is an organization that does not go to court in vain”.

He insists that he participated in the meeting of the COSON Board at which after vigorous discussions, it was unanimously decided that the NCC be sued since every attempt to get its leadership to respect the law and the independence of COSON has been thwarted.

Hon Udegbunam insists that the court action taken by COSON is creating desperation and fright within the enemies of the music industry as there is serious suspicion that at the end of the day, COSON will be proved right again and that is why the enemies of the music industry have ramped up what he describes as “their meaningless propaganda activities” which he is sure will crumble again.

The COSON Director concludes by saying, “For the avoidance of doubt, COSON remains solid as a rock and the members remain very proud of this phenomenal organization”

COSON CORONAVIRUS RELIEF DISTRIBUTION - UPDATE BY COSON CHAIRMAN, CHIEF TONY OKOROJI

I wish to thank the members of COSON across Nigeria for their widely expressed happiness and prayers for the COSON Board for initiating the Anti-Coronavirus Emergency Relief (ACER) General Distribution to assist members to weather the storm at this very difficult moment.

In the spirit of transparency and accountability which is behind the phenomenal success of COSON, I wish to update members of COSON as follows:

1.     The sum of N50 Million which is being distributed by COSON to our members across Nigeria was not provided by government or any other agency at home or abroad. It is entirely funds earned by COSON on behalf of our members.

2.     It is only COSON members whose names are on the register as at May 19, 2019 that are qualified for the distribution.

3.     It is not every member who is qualified that will receive alert on the same day as the control measures instituted on the digital platform which has been set up for the distribution between our bank and our operatives permits a limit of =N=10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) a day.

4.     On Tuesday, April 7, 2020 the sum of =N=9,999,000.00 (Nine Million, Nine Hundred & Ninety-Nine Naira) was sent to 909 members of COSON. Money meant for 15 members was returned unpaid.

5.     On Wednesday, another sun of =N=9,999,000.00 (Nine Million, Nine Hundred & Ninety-Nine Naira) was sent to another 909 members of COSON. Money meant for 25 members was retuned unpaid.

6.     As of Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 1,778 members of COSON have been paid a total sum of =N=19,558,000.00 (Nineteen Million, Five Hundred &Fifty-Eight Naira)

7.     Efforts are ongoing to ensure that more members of COSON receive their alert today. I call on all those who may not have received their money even after today, to be patient as I am working non-stop with the management team to ensure that the process does not stop until every qualified COSON member has been attended to. Every attempt will also be made to resend all the funds which were returned in case their return was as result of a computer glitch.

8.     The only problem that can stop a member from receiving an alert is if his or her account details are faulty or if he or she has changed accounts without notifying COSON.

9.     Please do not attempt to bribe any of our operatives or give any kind of gratification to any of them as such is forbidden in COSON and all services to our members including registration is completely free.

10.                        At the end of the exercise we will publicize a portal at which any qualified COSON member who has not received his money can lodge a complaint and his or her matter will be reviewed.

11.                        A further update will be provided as it becomes necessary.

Stay safe everyone and may the Almighty bless all members of COSON, our families and our nation.

CHIEF TONY OKOROJI

April 9, 2020