The PMAN President made the remarks while reacting to reports that the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) cannot register the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria(MCSN) unless the NCC Act which makes provision for only one collective management organisation for music and sound recording is amended by the National Assembly.
Teemac called on NCC to register MCSN as ordered by the National Assembly or PMAN will be forced to mobilised musicians to occupy NCC office in Abuja.
He said COSON was illegally registered, had no audited account and lacks bilateral agreement with any collective society around the world contrary to the claims of COSON.
“ It is time that NCC stops their stories. COSON was illegally registered and it was proven to the House Committee in a public hearing. Coson used names of musicians for registration without their consent, they had no audited accounts and no bilateral agreements with collective societies around the world.
“ Now the National Assembly ordered them to register MCSN and we musicians demand that this is done immediately or we shall come back to ABUJA in the hundreds to protest and block their offices as we did 2 years ago. We also demand an EFCC investigation into the accounts of COSON and we shall see on how they shared the money collected. Tee Mac Omatshola ISELI”, he said in the report published on www.starconnectmedia.com
Tee Mac is behind time; and I say this with due respect and without any prejudice. His allegations against Coson are all familiar and he is still bitter over Coson’s approval by the Federal Government of Nigeria ( an approval which was by law not lobbying or through armtwisting) He is also wrong in his argument that Coson does not have international affiliates; Coson has been and is daily expanding its working relationships with several international collecting societies and there is significant progress being made and better confidence being built among users in the Nigerian collective atmosphere. What I will advocate as a member of Coson is that the Coson finances should be subjected to constant scrutiny possibly by external auditing so that financial discipline can be ensured. Coson owes members the responsibility of transperency and accountability and must shun frivolous or bogus spendings that may run counter to its members expectations/interests. But I dare say a Tee Mac has no moral justification to advance these arguments after turning PMAN to a private property where the affairs are run from private offices and homes, destroying the credibility that some focused, dynamic, passionate and hardworking musicians among us worked so hard to build for the Union in the early years. Pman now has many factions and no serious musician gets involved any longer for fear of being entangled in all the controversies. I wonder which faction of Pman Tee Mac now runs as President of its caretaker committee. Coson is forging ahead,getting things right taking one step at a time. The work is enormous and cannot be rushed, but it’s coming along though we must thread carefully not to get carried away with the progress that is being made, and above all; be disciplined. “Let the music pay” joooo.