Fatai Rolling Dollars and Pa Ben Odiase – a call to the National Assembly

I had hardly recovered from the shock of the death of Fatai Rolling Dollars when I was hit by the news of the death of Pa Ben Odiase, the author of our national anthem. Just a few days ago, I had been invited to present a paper at a public hearing by the House Committee on Justice and the Judiciary at the National Assembly. I recall that the hearing opened with the national anthem written by now late, Pa Ben Odiase, a member of Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN), an organisation that the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) had been denying the right to collect royalties on behalf of its members for selfish reasons for years.

I drew the attention of the members to this. Now, he is dead. Never given due recognition in his lifetime and denied royalties because of some government agency’s refusal to obey and respect court judgements.

Fatai Rolling Dollar, another fervent member of MCSN, had also just passed on, and while alive had assigned his rights to MCSN to administer and collect royalties for his dependants from all over the world. That is their legacy. It is also their wish. Will it be respected? Find below a copy of the presentation at the National Assembly.

Today is historic!

It is the day of destiny for the creative industry in Nigeria. It is the day the National Assembly in its wisdom has agreed to give fair hearing to the oppressed and indeed all Nigerians in the matter of collective administration.

I shall not delve into technicalities of what collective administration is. I will not bore you with how the industry is deregulated and is not monopolised by one group alone, neither is anyone coerced by any government institution to mortgage their rights to a lackey of their choice in more advanced countries. I will not bore you about how important it is to have a choice and to be able to ‘port’ and assign your intellectual property rights to anyone or body of your choice. I will not bore you with the fact that the constitution guarantees my right to own property and my freedom of association. I will also not delve into all the blatant disregard for due process and disobedience to court order by the Nigerian Copyright Commission, an institution of this administration that has promised to respect the rule of law. I will not want to inundate you with the fact that Nigeria and Nigerians are losing billions of naira annually because of the selfish attitude of staff of the NCC who have vested interest in a CMO they want to force on everyone else. I simply want to present a case for my children for whom I am labouring day and night.

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I am a journalist/filmmaker, and one of the first digital studio owners in Nigeria. As a filmmaker my skills have taken me to over 43 countries. I have seen and interacted with colleagues and musicians from around the globe. I have seen how intellectual property rights are respected in other climes and how you do not need a pension scheme if you have a good CMO, as your royalties from works are enough to meet both your needs and your greed.

It has been argued that you need only one collecting society in Nigeria. Really, let’s kill the other telecom companies and bring back NITEL, kill off the Ariks of this world and bring back Nigeria Airways, kill off the ISPs through whom we are able to gain access to e-mails and force NIPOST down our collective throats. Take away Channels TV, AIT, and others and force us all to watch only NTA. We may as well have a one party state.

A few years ago, as a member of the board of the marginalised CMO, all directors attended a retreat in Abeokuta where we had several speakers talk to us on corporate governance. I wondered why, until the banks started collapsing, then I saw the wisdom and vision of this organisation that has integrity and transparency as its guiding principle. I then understood why Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, and all the great musical stars would trust them to administer their rights in Nigeria and not the other company the NCC tried to force on them discrediting MCSN. I have asked myself several times, why would all the award winning and top musicians in the world stick rigidly with MCSN in spite of the fact that our umpire NCC has even travelled abroad with tax payers money to try and force them to do business with their public/private partners. The answer is simple. I own my right. I decide who I want to assign to administer it on my behalf and there can never be a legislation that can work against this simple right. Our courts have agreed on this simple fact!

Why would I then entrust my rights to, as they say in Alaba Market, a ‘non tested’ organisation? We are not asking for a monopoly for any one organisation, only liberalisation and a freedom to choose. If others say no, then how can I entrust the future of my intellectual property to anyone who will not live and let live? We want the freedom to ‘port’ when we are not getting satisfactory services from our provider’ whoever denies this is not a democrat. That is why we vote every four years. MCSN takes care of my audio/visual properties, I am satisfied with their service. I hear NCC may want to create another CMO for film and video. I am using this medium to plead with them to leave the job of creation to God and procreation to parents of the intellectual property rights.

God bless Nigeria. God bless the National Assembly