Massive support came the way of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) on Wednesday, October 13 as the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN) donated items worth millions of naira to the Abuja-based agency.
Items gifted the Commission in support of its operations included a brand new Toyota Hiace bus, 20 pieces of HP laptops, and HP colour laser jet printer.
Receiving the donations, a vividly excited Director General of NCC, John Asein, used the occasion to urge the stakeholders in the creative industry to keep the Commission busy especially in the area of enforcement of their rights.
“For me, this event is a sign of a new dawn, it confirms what we can achieve if we work together to grow the creative industry; it means that the creative industry in return should be able to grow the nation’s economy. Here we are strengthening the capacity of institutions, in this case, the Nigerian Copyright Commission. I will convey this to my own boss, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, that we found one stakeholder again that has come out to support the Commission,” he declared.
The DG reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to support anyone who has a vision to grow the sector. “The NCC as a regulatory agency is not a task master, it is not one that will breathe down and make the Collective Management Organizations (CMOs), associations or anyone in the creative sector feel anyway alienated. I can share the commitment of the entire management of NCC to our goal, which is to continually help all the players in the creative sector, whether it is MCSN, Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS) or Reprographic Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG). We have a duty to ensure that CMOs are strong, with the hope that those whose rights you are managing will feel the impact.”
Earlier, while presenting the items, MCSN’s chairman, Orits Williki explained that the items were donated to the NCC because his organisation wanted to enhance the operations of the regulator especially in the area of enforcement.
In his remarks, the president of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Pretty Okafor, said his goal has always been to ensure that the creative industry works together as one. “And that is what we are witnessing here today. The industry has taken a gallop moving from yesteryears to a better position. We, the creators, are going to help the administrators of our collective creativity,” he quipped.
The chairman of AVRS, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, commended MCSN, describing what they did as “a wonderful gesture.” Also speaking, MCSN’s CEO, Mayo Ayilaran, said: “We do not think of what our government or nation can do for us, but we should rather think of what we can do for our nation, because when our nation is good, we will be good and when our nation is better, we too will be better. So, this informs our decision to take a cue from this popular saying and we took this little step; we call it very little because we know that the needs of the Commission is very huge, the Commission that covers the whole country, this is a drop of water in the ocean.”