Okoroji Urges Buhari To Initiate Intellectual Property Revolution

Uzo Chikere

The chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, seems not to be ready to let go on the issue of creating an enabling environment for the take-off of intellectual property revolution in Nigeria. In that vein, he has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to spark an intellectual property revolution in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy without delay. A very passionate Okoroji made this call at a Town Hall Meeting organized by BBC Media Action in Abuja recently. 

According to a press statement signed by COSON’s corporate communications officer, Mary Uket, at the event held at Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Chief Okoroji said that in a world which is rapidly being swept over by the digital economy and revolution, the Nigerian nation would hugely regret her failure to quickly tool itself with the full understanding of the concept of intellectual property and the economic necessity to defend intellectual property rights. 

Said Okoroji: “The days when oil ruled the world may have gone for good. We may have seen the last of the era of the 100 dollar a barrel of crude oil. Our crude oil of the future may have to be drilled from the ingenuity of young Nigerians. That ingenuity can be seen in how wide our music, movies, literature, fashion, programming and similar products of the creative endeavor are spreading across the world. This is clearly an area in which Nigeria has comparative advantage. Unfortunately, both at home and abroad, these creative products are being stolen with impunity without our nation seeming to care much”

Chief Okoroji who was joined on the panel which discussed Piracy in the Creative industry by Mr. Aderemi Adewusi, Head of Public Affairs at the Nigerian Copyright Commission said that the important investments required to actualize the hundreds of thousands of potential jobs which the Nigerian creative sector can generate and the billions of naira in revenue accruable to the nation will not take place except investors are guaranteed that their investments would be protected.

Chief Tony Okoroji, a former president of the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN) and author of Copyright & the New Millionaires, said that President Buhari who has a Vice President in Prof. Yemi Osinbajo with the intellect to fully grasp the issues, owes it to the Nigerian nation to kick start an intellectual property revolution in Nigeria that assures our citizens that if your mind can create something of value, the country will protect you to enjoy the fruits of your labour. “Nigeria must end the ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ environment that retards growth and development so as to release the latent creative ingenuity of our people and attract the investments to fully exploit this ingenuity”, he said.

Okoroji who is perhaps the best known intellectual property activist across Africa, said that his experience with COSON should show everyone that change can indeed happen in Nigeria and that Nigeria is not necessarily a lawless nation, adding that COSON has had to go to court about fifty times to ensure that the users of music in Nigeria begin to appreciate the fact that music is someone’s property which cannot be deployed in a business or public setting without appropriate permission. He called on creative people in Nigeria to stand up; take responsibility and establish strong lobbies which are required in every democracy to positively shape policies.  

The Town Hall Meeting was attended by authors, musicians, actors, directors, producers, photographers and many people from the creative industry across the nation who asked Chief Okoroji and Mr. Adewusi countless questions.