I have been told that some people have been having midnight meetings and discussions, trying to set up their own Collective Management Organization (CMO), to copy COSON! In the typical Nigerian fashion, the people who want to make quick money think that they can replicate COSON. They want to turn the very complex system of collective management of copyright into their new “pure water” business in which everyone has his own cheap cellophane bags littering the streets.
I used to be President of PMAN. With a driven team, clear vision and never-say-die passion, I worked 25 hours every day, eight days a week, to make PMAN a glorious national brand. Everyone across the world, from the President of the Federal Republic, governors, ambassadors and stars of all colours wanted to associate and rub shoulders with PMAN. PMAN became a much-admired name and the toast of the nation and the continent. And the dam broke!
Every musician in Nigeria who could afford a rickety ‘tokunbo’ SUV began to see himself as President of PMAN. To be PMAN President became the burning ambition of a lot. At some point, there were four people simultaneously calling themselves PMAN President! With all due respect, none of them understood the vision or the mission. PMAN is a registered trade union but none of the ‘Presidents’ understood the Trade Union Act or even the PMAN constitution. We all can see where it has led PMAN.
In my service to the creative industry in our nation, I have always been driven by those almost forgotten words, “together we stand, divided we fall”. The strength of PMAN came from the bringing together of diverse people across Nigeria to share in one vision. I toured nearly every nook and cranny of our country, day and night, to make that possible. It required an incredible amount of work and heaps and heaps of personal sacrifice. The language was one of unity and not that of division and hatred. Today, when you go to any of the WhatsApp platforms set up with the name of PMAN and read the gutter language, the language of hate and odium that is everywhere, you must shudder. The ignorance on most of the issues is incredibly shocking.
Two weeks ago, with some of my colleagues on the COSON Board, I was in Umuhuaba in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State for the burial of Chris Mba, a great Nigerian musician. During his lifetime, Chris Mba was a committed member of PMAN and gave much of his time for PMAN to thrive. At Chris Mba’s funeral, I searched for all the people who trumpet their big positions and titles in PMAN, both at national and state levels. I did not see even one of them. I searched for the ordinary members of PMAN. They were nowhere to be found. I shook my head in wonder. There was zero presence of PMAN. I was ashamed. Talk is truly cheap. On the many WhatsApp platforms, there is so much PMAN chatter and so much talk. On the ground, very little of any value to the members of PMAN seems to be going on.
Either as President of PMAN or Chairman of COSON, I have never gone into a meeting or discussions without first getting a good grasp of the relevant laws, the rules, the issues, the statistics or the trends. I believe that every good leader must remain a student through his tenure with the appetite and humility to learn as much as possible. I wish to say that there is nothing worse than an ignorant leader.
Either as President of PMAN or Chairman of COSON, I have never gone into a meeting in search of personal benefits against group interest.
I have repeatedly told people that you can never become rich by doing the kind of work that I do. What drives you must be the genuine love of people and not the love of self. You can never build a great trade union or an outstanding CMO if you are driven by self-interest or the interest of your handful of friends. When you lead a CMO or a trade union, you work for others and not for self. A CMO is not set up for the personal profit of the leader or leaders.
I see all the people positioning themselves to launch new CMOs in Nigeria and I shake my head. Do they truly understand what it takes to make a CMO work? Do they know how many years of study, work and patience it has taken COSON to be where it got? Do they have the requisite technical knowledge? Do they know how many court cases that litter the road COSON has had to travel? Do they think that there is anyone out there with bags of money waiting to give to them once they set up their CMO? Do they have any idea what it takes for COSON to earn one thousand naira? Do they think that there would be no new arguments, disputes or disagreements within whatever contraptions they have in mind?
I look around and I see all the people who not long ago thought they would become super rich by becoming PMAN President and I ask, “how has it panned out guys?”
That is why I say that setting up a CMO is not pure water business. If you want to be rich?… Please, don’t go set up a CMO! Go and hustle elsewhere.
See you next week.
- Okoroji is chairman of COSON