MUHARRAM 6, 1430 A.H.
MONDAY JANUARY 3 2009
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Copyright Law: Dreams & hopes,20 years after (I)
By Chief Okoroji
Today, it will be 20 years since the Nigerian Copyright Law was promulgated. Copyright Activist and former PMAN President, Chief Tony Okoroji who led the vanguard tells the story of the making of the Nigerian Copyright Law and the near suicide mission embarked upon by Nigerian artistes in 1988 to force the hands of the Babangida Administration to promulgate the law. The text is taken from Okoroji's soon to be published book, Copyright & Neighbouring Rights In Nigeria (the history, the principles, the law and the practice). 20 years after, there remains load of promises for the intellectual property owner, fighting between the two collecting societies, Performing and Mechanical Rights Society, PMRS and Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria, MCSN on hand and the two bodies up in arms against the government regulatory body, the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC, on the other hand.
ON July 27, 1987, at the age of 29, this author was elected President of PMAN. Onyeka Onwenu became 1st Vice President while Laolu Akins was made 2nd Vice President. The new leadership inherited an unkempt secretariat with a backlog of rent, two unskilled and frustrated staff members who had not been paid for over a year, very little furniture, no telephone, one old Olympia typewriter, an incredible amount of expectation, a lot of debt and absolutely no money. It also quickly received the usual Nigerian present from some of those who lost in the elections - a deluge of court cases.
Immediately after the election, it was announced that the premiere objective of the new leadership was to finally get a new copyright law promulgated. The author had gone ahead to pledge that the new leadership would so focus on this objective that if at the end of 1987, a new copyright law was not promulgated, he would resign his position. And so began one of the most intense campaigns ever undertaken by any private sector organization in Nigeria . Initially, the author had planned to spend one day of every week at PMAN and the rest at his regular job as a performing artiste and producer at EMI. When the reality of the task began to unfold, the one day was increased to two and then to three and in less than three months, he was working full time at a job that had no remuneration. Other members of the Executive Council were devoting hours and hours of selfless service to the association. The largest room in the secretariat was transformed into a reasonably comfortable meeting room. This room was to play host to hundreds of meetings, strategy sessions, press conferences, disagreements and even quarrels. The newly appointed legal adviser, Caleb Ola Atolagbe, apart from going in and out of court to deal with the many cases involving PMAN, was also involved in the many strategy sessions. PMAN did not have the resources to hire most of the staff required for the work it was doing. Each of the Executive Council members therefore, from time to time, performed staff assignments.
The campaign for a new copyright law was an all consuming campaign. The level of ignorance on the subject was frightening. The author, without prior warning had become the chief advocate of a cause that had spanned several years and different governments and had generated so much frustration. The experience acquired in repertoire management at EMI became invaluable. Countless newspaper articles were written. Almost everyday, there was a meeting with one government official or another. The author recalls that the first meeting with any minister was that with John Shagaya, then Minister of Internal Affairs and a very influential person in the military government. The meeting was scheduled for10 am at Colonel Shagaya's Abuja office. PMAN could only manage to find money for two persons to go to Abuja . The author and the late Rowland Onwuama, another member of the Executive, left Lagos on the first flight to Abuja with the aim of coming back immediately after the meeting. At the ministry, there was no minister. He had gone out on some other business. A long wait then ensued.
When the minister finally showed up at about 5 pm, it was clear that the PMAN team would be stranded in Abuja because it was too late to go back to Lagos and there was no money for any hotel accommodation. The author was apparently too inexperienced to understand that to see a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was a rare privilege reserved only for the anointed. When the author complained to the Minister that a meeting scheduled for 10 am was holding at 5 pm, the minister's reaction suggested that the author was a fool not to appreciate the privilege he had been given, to be seen at all. Some of the Minister's staff had to intervene to arrest what was fast degenerating into a shouting match between the author and the Minister. Eventually, tempers came down and the author explained that the team had come to solicit the Minister's support in getting the government to establish a new copyright regime which would have tremendous benefits to the country. The mutual antagonism disappeared and a very friendly discussion took place with the minister promising to do what he could. The Minister indeed made sure that the PMAN duo did not end up spending the night on the streets of Abuja .
PMAN also had several meetings with practically every minister in the Babangida regime including Tony Momoh who was Minister of Information & Culture, Ike Nwachukwu while he was Minister of Employment, Labour & Productivity and Prince Bola Ajibola who was the regime's Attorney-General & Minister of Justice.
Despite the hyperactive events, when December 31, 1987 came, there was no new copyright law. The author was depressed and disappointed. He had virtually sacrificed a career and had persuaded others to make huge sacrifices and there was nothing to show for it. On January 2, 1988, he sent his resignation to PMAN Headquarters. Unknown to people on the outside, PMAN was once again in the throes of a crisis. An emergency Executive Council meeting was held. The council refused to accept the resignation insisting that there was nothing that the author could do that he had not done. Some of the NEC members took the position that if the resignation was allowed to take effect, they too would leave. Legal Adviser, Mr. Atolagbe and Ms Onwenu were particularly persuasive. They reminded the author that a reasonably credible process had finally been put in place to bring about the law and that the PMAN leadership, after the hopes it had raised, had a duty to ensure that the process was guided to a successful conclusion. The author's ultimate decision to stay was for him a very humbling experience. Regardless of what ever happened thereafter, the fact that the law did not come as pledged and the fact that he was compelled to eat his words, would for him be an indelible failure.
The reasonably credible process which Ms Onwenu and Mr. Atolagbe spoke about was a product of a meeting held between PMAN and Colonel Tunde Akogun who was then Sole Administrator of Culture and Archives. At the meeting which took place at the National Theatre Lagos, Colonel Akogun was told that the musicians were tired of the many unfulfilled promises of the government. He assured PMAN that both he and his Minister, Prince Momoh, were determined to solve the problem once and for all. Following that meeting, a planning committee was set up to organize a national seminar to collate ideas from different experts and stake holders so that a comprehensive review of the Nigerian Copyright Law would be done. The author was appointed a member of the planning committee which met in Abuja in November 1987.
The Abuja meeting which held at the Headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Trade was to be the first practical step by the government to address the copyright issue. The author traveled to Abuja in the company of Keji Okunowo of CBS Nigeria and Ayo Fawole who then was coordinator of IFPI Nigeria. Among those who attended the meeting was Tope Popoola, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Publishers Association. Mr. Popoola came to the meeting with a rather young looking but immensely knowledgeable lawyer by the name, Bankole Sodipo who was then solicitor to the NPA.
The author took an instant liking to the young lawyer who obviously had a great passion for the intellectual property subject. The meeting as well had a four man team from the Federal Department of Culture, Colonel Akogun's Department. The team led by S.O. Williams also had Bayo Aiyegbusi, MDI. Olagunju and O.B. Adetula. E.O. Fadina came from the Federal Ministry of Education. Oladele Jegede of the Federal Ministry of Trade who was host and chairman of the meeting was chided by the private sector participants because his ministry which was in charge of copyright was perceived to have slept on its mandate.
The private sector participants were generally suspicious of the government officials and their well known penchant for unwinding processes that lead nowhere, and the suspicion was expressed. It was indeed the team from the Department of Culture that came with some concrete proposals. Their proposal for a conference was discussed and transformed to establish the framework of what was to become the National Seminar on the Nigerian Copyright Law.
The National Seminar on the Nigerian Copyright Law was held at Durbar Hotel Lagos from the 21st to the 25th of March 1988. The seminar was declared open by President Babangida, represented by Air Vice-Marshal Nureni Imam. Both the Attorney-General & Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola and Minister of Information & Culture, Prince Tony Momoh were present. The copyright seminar brought together some of the brightest minds ever assembled in Nigeria to tackle an issue. The icons of the Nigerian Judiciary that attended the different sessions include Former Chief Justice, Sir Darnely Alexander; Chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Dr Olakunle Orojo; Justice Kayode Esho and Justice Augustine Nnamani of the Supreme Court; Justice Fred Anyaegbunam; Justice Babatunde Belgore, etc.
