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.
