World Bank project partners Nigerian copyright body

COSON will partner the Growth and Employment in States (GEMS) project, which is funded by the World Bank and is part of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. The partnership is aimed at enlightening Nigeria’s citizens on intellectual property, especially with regards to the entertainment industry.

GEMS, which is "aimed at job creation and increased non-oil growth in specific high potential value chain sectors", has produced a toolkit for the purpose.

“What we aim to achieve with this toolkit is to simplify the grey areas with respect to intellectual property so as to make it understandable by everyone.

"The IP manual, we are certain upon completion, will bring about a reorientation amongst everyone; be it the owners of the intellectual property or the end users,” said Abba Yakasai, cluster manager of GEMS.

The toolkit will be presented at the Let’s Talk Copyright programme, which is scheduled to close the yearly No Music Day main event. Let’s Talk Copyright is expected to bring together a variety of creators including musicians, Nollywood stakeholders, broadcasters, lawyers and other professionals working in the creative industry.

“You will recall that COSON has been at the forefront of championing the message of the respect for the intellectual property of right owners,” said Tony Okoroji, who is at the centre of the leadership controversy at the copyright body.

“We have through such events like the COSON Lecture (one of the seven superlative events of the COSON Week) continued to educate and engage practitioners and other stakeholders on the different areas of copyright management and administration.

“Besides that, we also have other programs like the COSON Digital Summit, the Big Info Day and the No Music Day, all discussing emerging trends in the copyright business. All these are initiatives taken by COSON to keep the subject of Intellectual Property in general and music copyright in particular on the front burner.”

The public enlightenment goal of the programme has come at a time a similar education plan has become prominent across West Africa, as both Liberia and Ghana have elected to enlighten their citizens on the nature of intellectual property.