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| Tony Okoroji, COSON chairman |
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has called on President
Muhammad Buhari to to issue a directive to Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo
and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama to kick start an
Intellectual Property (IP) and Creative Revolution in Nigeria.
At an “open house” event at COSON Headquarters to mark ‘No
Music Day’ 2016 on September 1, attended by several artistes and assorted media
representatives from the full spectrum of Nigeria’s print, broadcast and social
media, COSON said that this period of economic recession in Nigeria
should provide important soul searching for the Nigerian nation.
Insisting that the era when the Nigerian economy was almost
completely dependent on oil and gas is in the nation’s past and will not come
back, Nigeria’s irrepressible copyright collective management organization
insisted that Nigeria’s future will have to be built on the creative ingenuity
of the Nigerian people.
Delivering the 2016 Official Address on the State of the
Nigerian Music Industry, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji said that the
creative ingenuity of the Nigerian people can be seen in how wide Nigerian
music, movies, literature, fashion, programming, and similar products of the
creative endeavour originating from Nigeria are in demand across the world.
According to him, this is clearly an area in which Nigeria has significant
comparative advantage and what is needed is the spark to light the fire and the
result will be confounding.
In the words of Chief Okoroji, “We believe that President
Muhammadu Buhari can give a marching order to both his Vice President, Prof
Yemi Osinbajo who has the training and the intellect to fully grasp the issues
and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama who for several years
was a respected Director at the World intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO), 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 work of
creativity and invention 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”
Chief Okoroji said that people in the creative industries
have continued to request for a proper engagement with the government so as to
make the knowledge and creativity driven economic future possible. He expressed
the hope that the government would react appropriately to this request so that
the important work can begin in earnest.
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