The full Board of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), this Tuesday, April 21, 2026, met at the Boardroom of COSON House in Ikeja, and made several important resolutions.
One of the key resolutions at the meeting is that COSON will take every step, go to any length and leave no stone unturned to ensure that no COSON member, and indeed, no Nigerian creative or creative industry investor entitled to receive a share of the billions of Naira presently accruing from the Private Copy Levy scheme, which was articulated and promoted for several years by the leadership of COSON, is denied his or her entitlement by the crafty deployment of dubiously manufactured technicalities.
Said the Board, “We are ready to fully resist the attempt to turn the Nigerian creative industry into a scammers paradise in which money belonging to innocent Nigerian creatives is blatantly butchered and shared by public officials in a manner lacking in transparency, accountability, fairness, justice and human feelings”
According to the COSON Board, “the Private Copy Levy is not Nigeria’s crude oil money, neither is it the Paris Club Refund of the Abubakar Malami era. It is money meant to cushion the sufferings of creative people in Nigeria traumatized by many years of devastating piracy and free-for-all copyright infringement. Apart from the thousands of citizens presently engaged in creative endeavours, the funds arising from the levy scheme are also meant to assist many widows of our great artistes that have passed on and many practitioners who today are in poor health and need urgent help. For a few people to share the proceeds of the levy among themselves and attempt to live big therefrom is unconscionable, devilish and unacceptable. Let them be warned that COSON will resist their wickedness. Our track record is well known”.
The Board commended its strong team of lawyers that have defended the interest of COSON, its officers and members in various courts across the country, It once again resolved to openly commend the upright judges whose decisions have led to the unprecedented victories of COSON in the courts, which victories have resulted in the sustained survival and non-stop growth of this unique Nigerian organization in an environment in which every step has been taken to kill COSON by covetous and avaricious persons driven by bitter or malicious hearts, intense envy, jealousy, ill-will and a grudging attitude towards the success of COSON, Nigeria’s flagship copyright collective management organization.
The Board also decided that the general public be reminded of the following facts:
a. That the legality of the purported approval of Abubakar Malami’s MCSN by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is currently being vigorously challenged at the Court of Appeal in Appeal No CA/L/415/2018.
b. That the legality of the purported suspension of the approval of COSON on the orders of Abubakar Malami is also being challenged in suit No FHC/L/CS/425/2020 at the Federal High Court and Appeal No. CA/LAG/CV/166/2022 at the Court of Appeal.
c. That COSON has written to Malami’s MCSN opting out, as required by law, to the licensing or representation by MCSN of any of the hundreds of thousands of works assigned by their owners to COSON.
d. That COSON remains a very significant representative of copyright owners in musical works and sound recordings in Nigeria and entitled to receive the Private Copy Levy on behalf of its members and it will be a big joke to mention that money given to the leaders of Abubakar Malami’s MCSN is available to the thousands of COSON members.
The Board ratified several measures adopted to significantly boost the income to be distributed to the members and affiliates of the society and to protect the abuse of their rights.
The Board reaffirmed its determination to ensure that COSON remains an agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the creative industry in Nigeria, and an institution that will continue to make transparency and accountability the core elements of its operation.
The COSON Board meeting was chaired by Chief Tony Okoroji, one of the continent’s most respected defenders of the rights of creative people and a celebrated former President of PMAN. Other members of the Board include Afro Juju Maestro, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono Onwubuya, and well-known Enugu based music toaster and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.
Also on the COSON Board are Abuja based music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul; Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi; National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel, also known as Koffi Tha Guru and the Copyright specialist and General Manager of COSON, Mr Vincent Adawaisi.

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