Lagos, Nigeria –
The 4th Filmic Mini-Colloquium held on Thursday, April 13 at the FilmHouse Cinemas, Landmark, Victoria Island, Lagos, hosted key creative industry stakeholders converging to discuss the challenges within the collective management system.
Themed “Collective Management of Copyright in Nigeria: Challenges and Solutions.” The colloquium aimed to inform and sensitize stakeholders on the state of the collective management space and new developments that provide opportunities for significant progress if effectively engaged and harnessed.
Following a stirring intro presentation by event facilitator Efe Omorogbe and a compelling keynote by Edi Lawani, Mahmoud Alli-Balogun chairman, Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS); Isioma Idigbe, secretary, Music Publishers Association of Nigeria (MPAN); Dr Chinedu Chukwuji, national coordinator, Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative (RLPI) and Lynda Alphaeus, director, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) delivered insightful presentations that provided backdrops for lively discussion by the line up of distinguished panellists like lead admin, Filmic, Charles Novia, Innocent “2Baba” Idibia, Justin Ige, Onyi Okoroji, Justice Atigogo and Prof. Bankole Sodipo, (SAN) represented by Chiwendu Uruakpa. Filmic admin, Emem Ema and Kingsley James ably anchored the panels as moderators.
The key takeout was the dire need for increased levels of awareness to eradicate stakeholder apathy. Participants enjoined influential personalities like 2Baba to do more to broaden the base of superstar advocacy since the active participation of rights holders is fundamental to the development of an effective collective management system.
There was also consensus that key provisions in the newly-signed copyright act can facilitate the resolution of a good number of debilitating problems inadvertently facilitated by loopholes in the repealed act.
Stakeholders were also strongly encouraged to intensely engage in the process of drafting the new CMO regulation by the Nigeria Copyright Commission to ensure it sufficiently applies the expensive learnings from the crises of the past few years to produce a regulatory framework that provides for more transparent, accountable and efficient CMOs.
The mini-colloquium had in physical attendance distinguished Filmic members like Agatha Amata, Chioma Ude, Bolanle Austen-Peters, John Adeloju, Sewedo Nupowaku and Oris Aigbokhaevbolo. Other notable attendees include veteran copyright advocates Laolu Akins and Joel Ajayi, MPAN board member, Micheal Odiong, Mavin Records’ Kizito Ahams, Hypertek Digital’s Francis Ogbole, Tony Green and PMAN President, Pretty Okafor represented by vice-president Zaaki Azzay.
Filmic is an exclusive pressure group made up of creative industry practitioners of distinction drawn from film, television and music. The successful mini-colloquium, the fourth in the series, was organized with support from leading exhibition chain FilmHouse Cinemas, top production/media company Tankful Group and Now Muzik.
