By Charles Okogene
Efe Omorogbe, the leader of some members of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) that have been up in arms with Chief Tony Okoroji, demanding for a forensic audit and good governance, has said that with the December 1 2021 judgement in favour of Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC ) in a case brought against it by the latter, the rights commission has no excuse not to move against COSON and do the needful.
Omorogbe spoke to Newdawn at his tastefully furnished and equipped studio in Opebi, Ikeja a day after the judgement went viral, 24 hours after COSON’s counsel Simi Wash Pam, had told the world that the case is yet to be attended to or dismissed.
Omorogbe who was of the opinion that NCC as a regulator has been denigrated so much by COSON said that if NCC does not move in and get COSON to submit its books for forensic audit by an internationally reputed audit firm, then the rights commission is exposing itself to all kinds of denigration by just any organization.
Below is an extract from the explosive interview that will be publish in full later.
“We do not want to go there and occupy it; that is not necessary. We are not destructive. We follow due process and we are law abiding. We first petitioned NCC about the goings on in COSON, we kept NCC under pressure. Now that the judicial protection, barricade that stopped NCC from taking action has been removed, we expect them to go out there and protect our assets; first and foremost people should stop paying loyalty to COSON. If I see any payment demand to any right user by COSON and NCC does not take action, all these pressure we piled on COSON will be transferred to NCC. COSON has terribly denigrated NCC. NCC is in a fight of its life. If those guys know the challenge before them and refuse to act, the new crop of people will challenge any pronouncement it makes in future but the question you ask yourself is, the things COSON has exposed NCC to, can Glo, Airtel, MTN and others do such to Nigerian Communication Commission? Can UNILAG do same to the Nigerian Universities Commission? What will be left of NCC if they allow Okoroji and his cohorts go away with all they have exposed NCC to. All we want is for the audit to be carried out and if NCC does not see to that, then they should shut the office so that chaos can reign supreme in the industry. If they do not insist on the audit, they should go because what then are they regulating. You have the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) that is even a union not a regulator that still beat journalists to line same for Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for broadcasters, will a broadcast station do to NBC what COSON has done to NCC?
