The above headline says a lot about what happened on Tuesday, September 21,2021. It was a day Dr. Mahmud Alli-Balogun, called out members his Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS), and took over the usually quiet ambiance of Isaac John Ikeja based Reddison Blu Hotel for picketing for failing to pay its Association for the use of its members films in its hotel rooms.
What a day in September for the hotel to remember for a long time. Well, nothing much was achieved in terms of the hotel offsetting the huge N50m Alli-Balogun said the hotel is indebted to AVRS, a layman man may say, but on a second look, the actors with their ‘unruly’ conduct that day, were able to extract a promise from the chairman of the hotel who was said to be on vacation abroad, that on his return, he will personal be involved in negations to settle the matter. This was a chairman that was on unreachable all along.
Aside Reddison Blu, what happened that Tuesday morning was a wake up call to other stakeholders in the hospitality industry and other Rights users as the news of that show traveled far and wide and prompted other hotel owners into working on the phones to reach Alli-Balogun and his executives, inviting them to a meeting to reach agreement on how to be lincenced to continue to show Nollywood films. Another victory for AVRS, you may say.
While speaking with journalists at the precinct of the hotel, Alli,-Balogun had alleged that AVRS had been in a hide and seek negotiation with most of the hotels in the country but that the Reddison Blu on Isaac John has proved most difficult.
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