Kick-start intellectual property revolution, Okoroji tells Buhari

September 2, 2015 – Copyright Society of Nigeria(COSON) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to kick-start an intellectual property revolution in Nigeria.

Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji made the appeal on the occasion of ‘No Music Day’, an annual event held on September 1 in Nigeria, to draw attention to widespread infringement on the rights of song writers, composers, performers, music publishers, record labels and other stakeholders in the music industry in Nigeria.

“We, in the Nigerian music industry today call on President Muhammadu Buhari to spark an intellectual property revolution in Nigeria, without delay. It is our view that in a world which is rapidly being swept over by the digital economy and the digital revolution, the Nigerian nation will hugely regret it if it does not quickly tool itself with the full understanding of the concept of intellectual property and the economic necessity to defend intellectual property rights.

Commenting on the wrong approach taken by past governments on the total dependence on crude oil to generate revenue for the Nigerian economy, Okoroji tasked government to take proactive steps in boosting the Nigerian creative sector by enforcing the laws on intellectual property rights.

The theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Music, the untapped alternative to crude oil’ encapsulates our long sung message to several past governments of Nigeria, Okoroji said, adding this is the first ‘No Music Day’ under the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, a period of important soul searching for the Nigerian nation.

“It may have become clear to many that the days when oil ruled the world may have gone for good. We may indeed have seen the last of the era of the 100 dollars 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 endeavour are in demand across the world. This is clearly an area in which Nigeria has significant comparative advantage. Unfortunately, both at home and abroad, these creative products are being stolen with impunity without our nation seeming to understand the impact on our economy.

“We wish to underline the fact 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 will be protected”, he said.

On the purpose for observing ‘No Music Day’, Okoroji said, ‘We must ask all Nigerians to spare a thought for a world without music. What kind of world would that be? Every year, in marking ‘NO MUSIC DAY’, our objective has been to engage the Nigerian people and the various governments on the potential contributions of Nigerian music to the socio-economic development of the Nigerian nation and the necessity to fully deploy the substantial comparative advantage which our nation possesses in this area so as to provide hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs to the teeming masses of Nigerian youth who parade the streets of our country with little hope.”

In commemoration of the day, broadcast stations were requested not to broadcast music between the hours of 8am-10am on Tuesday September 1, 2015 as a mark of solidarity with the nation’s creative industry.