Letter lambastes Copyright Society of Nigeria’s Okoroji

Due to wrangling within the establishment, the body currently has two individuals – Tony Okoroji and Efe Omorogbe – acting as chairman, with one accusing the other of holding the position illegally.

In a lengthy letter obtained by Music In Africa, Maikori, a lawyer and member of the COSON board, covers several areas of the dispute, including the relationship between COSON and intellectual property as well as the allegations levelled against Okoroji. The letter ends with an appeal "to the Nigerian music industry and broad stakeholders to take a stand and demand that Chief Tony Okoroji complies with the directive of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission [NCC] for the good of the nation".

COSON and intellectual property

“COSON is tasked with the duty of protecting and exploiting the intellectual property of a portion of the music industry of Nigeria,” Maikori says in the letter. “The seriousness with which a country handles the intellectual property industry by ensuring that rights are not only protected but enforced impacts how much money that country generates.”

Maikori, who has been a major industry player since the Chocolate City label moved to Nigeria’s culture capital Lagos, uses the example of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), which he says collected $25m in royalties two years ago despite the country’s population of 55 million.

“Nigeria with almost four times that population (200 million according to a recent projection) and with arguably more popular music has never even generated $1m gross as royalties,” Maikori writes. “Indeed, the highest amount COSON distributed to its members was 200 million naira in 2016 – just under $551 000. How does a country with that number of people and quality/quantity of musicians generate less than 5% of what South Africa generates?”

Part of the answer is poor copyright protection and enforcement – problems that COSON was supposed to solve after receiving a licence as a collective management organisation (CMO) in 2010. COSON benefited from prior problems between the Nigeria's first CMO, the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN), and an Okoroji-headed breakout faction called the Performing Rights Musical Society (PRMS).

"There was no one to pay, or rather there was confusion as to who should be paid between the MCSN or PRMS. This culture permeated so much that clubs, discos, hotels and places where music was being consumed refused to pay."

The intractability of the MCSN-PMRS conflict led to Okoroji applying to the NCC independently and COSON was born.

Okoroji's ‘infractions’

Maikori says that initially everything went well. But he was unsettled by Okoroji's behaviour. "Okoroji seemed to act like he was the CEO of COSON and not the chairman of the board. In 2016, the COSON Week programme was scuttled by revelation of misconduct. I was informed that Tops Management, the company in charge of executing most of COSON's events, was actually owned by Chief Okoroji!"

Maikori then produces a list of inappropriate actions by Okoroji, which includes a response issued to a record label without the knowledge of the board.

"Okoroji personally responded to an earlier petition by Premier Music Publishing Company Ltd (the foremost record label in Nigerian history and owners of over 1 000 musical works and sound recordings) querying some of the association’s disbursements and formula for calculating the royalties they received,” Maikori writes. “This in all fairness wasn’t the first time we had complaints about the sharing formula and how it was calculated, even my company had complained about the formula but in this instance, Okoroji (not the general manager) responded to the letter without referring the letter to the board for their input."

On 7 December last year, Okoroji was ousted as chairman and replaced by Efe Omorogbe. Exactly one week later, on 16 December, Maikori describes a manoeuvre "that would make most Nollywood writers applaud" as Okoroji was re-elected by a board led by acting chairman Victor Uwaifo. "The whole thing was a disgrace," Maikori says.

Since that re-election, Okoroji and Omorogbe have exchanged words in the media. But from documents available to Music In Africa, it appears Okoroji's insistence on remaining chairman is in violation of an NCC directive. In a letter dated 19 December, the licensing body directs that the board “return to the status quo as at 7 December 2017” and for new elections to take place within two months. Neither recommendation has been heeded.

Maikori says Okoroji has only one honourable option left. "If I were Tony Okoroji I would simply have resigned in the face of these grave allegations for the sake of COSON." Clearly, Okoroji differs.

To read Maikori's full letter, see attachment below.