Nigeria: COSON Week to fight piracy

The annual Copyright Society of Nigeria Week (COSON Week) will take place from 29 October to 4 November.

The organisation has announced that programmes for the week will take place across several venues. “There will be 7 captivating events at 7 special venues over 7 days all over the city of Lagos which is being promoted as the entertainment capital of the continent and a major tourism hub,” a statement from COSON reads.

According to chairperson of the body Tony Okoroji, the 2017 COSON Week has five objectives:

1. Build significant public awareness and support for the new national fight against piracy of music, movies, literature, broadcast content, software, etc, which is undermining investments in the Nigerian creative industry.

2. Mount a forceful campaign against hate speech in Nigeria which is threatening ethnic harmony and peace in the country.

3. Vigorously promote the Nigerian Music Industry to contribute more meaningfully to the nation’s GDP.

4. Sell the Nigerian nation to the world as an important tourist destination.

5. Support the COSON Music Foundation set up to assist old or indigent artistes or musicians in distress.

“We just need to look at the misery that comes with the failure of nations to understand that no investments we make towards the stability of Nigeria is too much,” Okoroji said. “I have had very deep and frank discussions with the honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on our Music for National Stability initiative. He was indeed the one who called me to pledge support for what we are doing. I believe that he gets it.”

For more information visit the COSON website.