The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Abuja, was in a celebratory mood on Monday, January 22, 2018, as a high powered delegation of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) arrived the magnificent building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The visit by the COSON team was led by celebrated former President of PMAN and Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji. In the team were Rub – a – dub maestro, Ras Kimono, scintillating gospel artiste, Kenny Saint Brown, vivacious queen of love, Azeezat Allen who are members of the COSON Board and COSON General Manager, Mr. Chinedu Angus Chukwuji.
While addressing the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Geoffrey Onyeama whom Chief Okoroji referred to as a special friend and a comrade in the battle for the protection of the rights of creative people in the World, the COSON Chairman described the visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a thank you visit for the honour which the Minister did to COSON when he came to Lagos to deliver the COSON Lecture on October 30, 2017. Chief Okoroji expressed the determination of COSON to work closely with the Government for the economic well-being of the nation.
The former president of PMAN said that the COSON leadership had decided to use the opportunity of the visit to present to the Honourable Minister, the Copyright Medal of Honour, the biggest honour the music industry in Nigeria may bestow on any individual. According to the COSON Chairman, the award is for the tremendous efforts of the Honourable Minister in the promotion of Intellectual Property Rights around the world. Mr. Onyeama was for many years Deputy Director General of the Geneva based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations specialized agency for Intellectual Property matters around the world.
In his response, the Honourable Minister congratulated the COSON leadership for the amazing achievemenst and the fantastic work it is doing. He particularly praised the chairman for the vision and the implementation of the vision. He commended him for his organizational and intellectual skills to understand the substance of the subject matter. He further praised COSON for bringing together so many creators around country into the collective management system. According to the Minister few people can appreciate the efforts made to build an organisation like COSON that is massively respected around the world. He said COSON has been able build partnerships across the world and has been an excellent ambassador for the country.
In his words, “COSON is such an important outfit because it is really the platform and the basis for the promotion of creativity in Nigeria. Your field and your members are playing such an important role in Nigeria. You are rebranding Nigeria and that is extremely important because the Nigerian brand has been diluted and compromised so much and the creative industry today represents that much more positive brand of Nigeria and you at the forefront of creating and rebranding this country and our people. You are playing an important role in redefining in a very positive way and charting the future course for this country.”
The Minister thanked COSON for the honour done to him and promised to continue to work with COSON in promoting creativity and intellectual property rights in Nigeria and to ensure that Nigerian creators whose works are exploited around the globe earn commensurate income for their labour.
Mr. Onyeama said that he was thanking the COSON delegation on behalf of all Nigerians for not only bringing joy and happiness but for creating jobs and taking Nigeria to higher ground.
The delegation was also at the National Assembly were it met with key senators and officers of the nation’s legislative institution. — with Azeezat Queenoflove and 11 others.