Mary Ekah
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has requested President Muhammadu Buhari to give marching orders to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, to kick start an intellectual property and creative revolution in Nigeria.
At the big ‘open house’ event at COSON headquarters to mark ‘No Music Day’ 2016 held recently, which was attended by several artistes and several media representatives, 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, COSON 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 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.
“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 Organisation (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,” Okoroji said. He said people in the creative industry 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.
