The full Board of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), this Tuesday, October 21, 2025, met at the Boardroom of the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja, and took several important decisions ensuring that COSON continues to soar.
After reviewing reports of the activities of the strong team of lawyers defending the interest of COSON, its officers and members in various courts across the country, the Board resolved to openly commend those lawyers whose diligence has led to the unprecedented victories of COSON in the courts which victories have resulted in the sustained survival and non-stop growth of the organization in an environment of envy, hatred and covetousness.
The Board resolved to send a warning to all those who are judgment debtors to COSON to pay up their debts or face the massive outrage of COSON and its members.
The Board particularly applauded the recent letter written on behalf of COSON by one of its lawyers, to the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) and some of its members, drawing the attention of BON to the following facts:
a. That the legality of the purported approval of MCSN by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is currently being 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 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 MCSN opting out, as required by law, to the licensing by MCSN of any of the hundreds of thousands of works assigned by their owners to COSON for licensing for the purpose of broadcast and public performance.
d. That consequent upon the foregoing, BON and its members are advised to ensure that no payment whatsoever is made to MCSN or anyone else for the use of works which have been assigned to or under the control of COSON.
The Board expressed its boundless pride that COSON has remained the most transparent and accountable organization in the history of the Nigerian creative industry, an organization which has made the following non-negotiable:
a. The professional auditing of its accounts in every year of its existence, with the accounts made available to every member for scrutiny and the accounts and returns filed with the CAC unfailingly as at when due, which is why on the website of the CAC, COSON is the only creative industry organization marked ‘active’.
b. The unfailing holding each year of its Annual General Meeting, even during Covid 19, and the opportunity given to all members to ask any question and receive clear answers.
c. The insistence that no one serves on the Board without being elected by the members and no one serves one day beyond his election except re-elected by the 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 Acting General Manager of COSON, Mr Vincent Adawaisi.
