Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has reached an agreement with the University of Ibadan Music Department to score Nigerian popular music of its members for the world. By scoring the works, sheet music version of Nigerian hit songs and their instrumentation will be available across the world so that other artistes, bands, groups and orchestras can easily read the notations and perform the songs thereby widening their appeal and earning added income for the composers.
The agreement was reached at the special workshop held by COSON for the students and lecturers of Nigeria’s premier university which took place at the Department of Music Library Building on September 9, 2016. The workshop brought to an end the 3 day working visit of the COSON leadership to the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Welcoming the COSON team to the workshop, the Head of the Department of Music, Dr. Tolu Owoaje, on behalf of the university, thanked the COSON leadership for its consistency in promoting the copyright culture in Nigeria. He also expressed happiness that the University of Ibadan is the first university in the country to benefit from such joint event with COSON.
Speaking at the workshop, renowned Intellectual Property activist and Chairman of the COSON Board, Chief Tony Okoroji, thanked the University Management, the Department of Music and the government of Oyo State for the warm welcome accorded the COSON team in Ibadan.
Chief Okoroji said that the interaction with the young students gave him special joy because the students form the future of the Nigerian nation and are well placed to use the knowledge gained from the workshop to influence the future socio economic well-being of the country.
The COSON Chairman said that COSON is committed to promoting a new knowledge based economy in Nigeria grounded on creativity, inventiveness, and the respect for Intellectual Property rights. He emphasized that Nigeria’s current economic distress is the result of many years of the nation’s fixation on oil and gas at the detriment of its creative industries such as music, movies, publishing, fashion, etc. He forcefully condemned the rabid disrespect for intellectual property rights in the country pointing out that the culture of unauthorized wholescale photocopying of literary works in Nigerian universities in which no thought is given to the interest of the authors and publishers of such works. He was emphatic that such behaviour poses a major danger to the development of a true knowledge economy in the country. Chief Okoroji who presented some books to the university and pledged continued cooperation between COSON and the University of Ibadan, repeated his call on President Muhammad Buhari to kick start a creative and intellectual property revolution in Nigeria so that the creative, cultural and inventive capacity of the Nigerian people can be fired up for a new knowledge economy, based on Nigeria’s well known ingenuity.
Other persons on the COSON train who spoke to the students at the workshop were Dancehall King, Dare ‘Baba Dee’ Fasasi; Comedian cum singer, Koffi ‘tha guru’ Idowu Noel; Fuji Music Maestro, Alhaji Sikiru ‘S.K’ Agboola and Queen of love, Azeezat Allen who gave the university the go ahead to begin the scoring of her popular song, Ife.
Present at the historic workshop preceded by stunning live performances by students of the Department of Music was the COSON General Manager, Mr. Chinedu Chukwuji. Also present were lecturers such as Dr. Femi Olaleye, Mr. Adeolu Ogunsaya and Mr. Samuel Ajose.
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