BY Charles Okogene
The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has once again called on the federal government to direct the Attorney General of the Federation to call for a forensic audit to be conducted on the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to establish whether the funds allocated to the commission have been justifiably utilized.
The Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji, made this call at a press conference held by the society at its head office in Ikeja on Thursday, February 19 2025.
He said this while speaking to the media on the genesis of what led to the N1.2billion copyright levy recently released to the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) for distribution among musicians.
According to him, it was the embattled past AGF, Abubakar Malami, that perfected what he called the ”scam machine” that the NCC used to convince the present AGF and the president to release the money under what is called ‘Copyright Levy’.
At the press conference, COSON further made the following demands.
That to make certain that there is sanity and there is stability in the Nigerian creative industry going forward, the Federal Government must intervene immediately and ensure that the scam machine foisted on the Nigerian music industry by Mr. Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, to enable him, his friends and cohorts to siphon money belonging to innocent Nigerian musicians and other creative people, is dismantled immediately.
That to ensure that the funds resulting from the private copy levy scheme are not frittered away or rapidly stolen, the Federal Government should immediately request that no money resulting from the scheme is shared or spent by anyone forthwith until an equitable process for the distribution of the funds between the various right owners is determined in an open and transparent manner.
That the purported approval/licence given to Musical Copyright Society Nigeria to collect royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians by Mr Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, without following due process, be immediately annulled in the same manner that the earlier approval/license given to MCSN was annulled by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
That the seven criminal cases at the Federal High Court instituted against MCSN and its officers which under bizarre circumstances were stalled by the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation, be re-opened and fully prosecuted by the Nigeria Copyright Commission or in the alternative, by a private prosecutor appointed by the Attorney-General of the Federation.
That a thorough forensic audit of MCSN be mandated and conducted by a notable auditing firm to determine who received what from the 2.7 billion Naira obtained from Multichoice and all the other funds that have been collected by MCSN as royalties on behalf of Nigerian musicians, the music industry and foreign right owners.
That a thorough forensic audit of the Nigerian Copyright Commission be conducted to establish that the funds allocated to the commission have been justifiably utilized.
That a proper investigation of the sources of income of the leadership of MCSN be carried out without delay.
That after over seven years of implementing the agenda of Mr. Abubakar Malami, Mr. John Asein who has multiple petitions hanging on his neck be relieved of his position as Director General of the Nigeria Copyright Commission without delay and an even-handed person be appointed to head the commission
That all members of COSON should be warned that the recent desperate campaign of the leadership of MCSN asking right owners to join their discredited organization is to use them to cover up their long-standing deception and daylight robbery of the funds belonging to the musicians of Nigeria.
That no member of COSON should answer the call of the shameless. distressed and factionalized leadership of PMAN which fraudulently sold the land allocated by the government to build the PMAN Plaza in Abuja and pocketed the money and is now looking for Nigerian musicians to use as pawns in its fraudulent marriage with the leadership of MCSN to further defraud the musicians of Nigeria of billions of Naira belonging to them.
At the briefing, COSON assured its thousands of members and affiliates across the nation and its reciprocal representation partners across the world that COSON will continue to forcefully defend their rights and that transparency and accountability will remain the watch words of COSON.
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