To evolve from a forerunner of the banking industry into a top-tier politician is not a day’s job anywhere globally, not to mention Nigeria. But Tokunbo Abiru, the former GMD/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited, is taking steps to become an effective representative of his Lagos East Senatorial district at the 9th Nigerian National Assembly.
When Abiru was the top dog at Polaris, he was renowned for always adopting innovative approaches to sweep through everything. From his recent doings, it is obvious now that that was actually his style, nothing adopted from anywhere. Thus, the bill he is currently backing shows just the kind of man he is and offers a glimpse into the legacy a senator like Abiru Mukhail Adetokunbo is likely to leave behind.
Copyrights protection is taken for granted in Nigeria as if intellectual property is a shared right of all. Abiru realised the flaw in this supposition and thus sponsored the bill to enforce a stricter price for transgressing this branch of the Nigerian law.
Interestingly, the Copyrights Acts in Nigerian law does not accommodate a large fraction of emerging technologies and ways of thinking. Thus, the conceptualisation of property theft as contained in the Copyrights Act can be danced around. However, the implications of these are better known to filmmakers, authors, and all other members of the creative industry. These are the interests that Abiru is pushing to protect.
At the moment, the bill has passed the second reading and, upon acceptance and approval, will become one of the most effective instruments for securing the trust of talented Nigerians who tire themselves out trying to protect their work from bootleggers. Also, as Abiru has mentioned, this will significantly boost the odds of home-driven economic growth and development. To be sure, this is Abiru’s first move since becoming Senator. What a brilliant start.
