If the massive participation of film industry practitioners in the stakeholders’ meetings organized by Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) in Kano and Abuja, penultimate week, is anything to go by, then the campaign for respect for intellectual property in Nigeria could very well have assumed a more serious nationwide dimension.


Seeking to enlighten stakeholders in the film industry on the nature, purpose and operations of AVRS, as well as their rights and obligations to the Society, and with a view to establishing cordial working relationships with various stakeholders in the film industry, AVRS – Nigeria’s sole approved collective management organization for cinematograph films – had in February kick-started the enlightenment campaign series in Lagos, with the train moving to Asaba and Benin in April after the general elections.   


The widely reported success stories of earlier events, as mentioned above, may have re-energized the interest of Kano-based film makers who turned out in their numbers to attend the Forum at Ni’ima Guest Palace Conference Centre, Old GRA, Kano, where the event was hosted.


Frontline film maker and chairman of AVRS, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, in a familiar order of proceedings, opened the session with an introductory speech tracing the history of the formation of AVRS, its registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a company limited by guarantee, and its eventual approval by the Nigerian Copyright Commission as a collective management organization. He remarked that the power of any film medium is largely based on its outreach and underscored his recognition of the wide viewership of Hausa films across West and East Africa in particular, which obviously influenced DSTV to open Africa Magic Hausa as a dedicated channel. He commend the industrious spirit of Kano-based film makers, particularly for their consistency in making films in an indigenous African language, and enjoined them to formalize their membership of AVRS in order to enjoy the benefits of residual income guaranteed by annual payment of royalties.


The Kano State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry who is also a notable stakeholder and president of MOPPAN, Kano State, Professor Umar F. Jibril, commended the Federal Government for the approval of AVRS which he described as the best thing to happen to Nigeria’s film industry since independence. In his words, “The Nigerian film industry has grown through various stages since our political independence in 1960, and this includes various levels of public exploitation of our creativity, especially with the advent of Nollywood. Having endured this wanton exploitation for decades, while watching our counterparts in other parts of the world benefit from royalties paid on their copyright works, it was a heart-warming development when the news of the approval of AVRS by Nigerian Copyright Commission broke. Make no mistake about it, nothing can boost national productivity from the angle of creative industries more than a reliable intellectual property protection system to ensure that our labours, in the long run, will not be in vain.”


Also speaking, the North-West Zonal Manager of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Alhaji Hassan Usman who represented the Director-General, Mr. Afam Ezekude, reiterated the commitment of NCC towards total eradication of intellectual property rights abuse in Nigeria. He however called for patience, saying that the battle against piracy is being fought on various fronts with a gradual and painstaking approach for best results. According to him, “piracy is a cancer that has unfortunately metastasized in the body of our creative industries, and as such cannot be stamped out overnight. The NCC is doing its best to eradicate the cancer and would continue to partner with active stakeholders to make more progress.”


Directors of AVRS, Prince Jide Kosoko, Mr. Fidelis Duker and Dr. Ahmed Sarari who anchored the event, also called on their colleagues in Kano to show stronger commitment to the anti-piracy struggle by supporting AVRS in its bid to get commercial users of audio visual works to pay for their usage.


The interactive session provided participants with the opportunity to ask questions and address their concerns about membership, licensing, assignment of rights and the reliability of reciprocal agreements.  The general manager of AVRS, Ms. Eme Akiba-Eyo, a legal practitioner, joined the chairman and directors to respond to the issues raised, with detailed explanation of national and international legal frameworks of collective management.


The Abuja Forum, held at Merit House, Aguiyi-Ironsi Street, Maitama, was equally well-attended by stakeholders and exhaustively interactive. Anchored by popular Nollywood actor, Francis Duru, it provided an auspicious platform for film makers to engage AVRS officials, as well as NCC officials present, on national response strategies against movie piracy. Mr. Mike Akpan, deputy director of NCC, assured participants that the NCC is adopting new measures in the fight against piracy. According to him, “as new technologies evolve and piracy shifts more and more from physical to digital, the NCC has articulated a novel approach to nip digital piracy in the bud. This will soon take effect in collaboration with approved collective management organizations in the creative industries.”


Present at the Kano and Abuja events were directors of AVRS earlier mentioned, including Mr. Andy Amenechi who attended the Abuja forum; Malam Mikail Isah Bin Hassan, president of Professional Film Directors Association, Kano; Abdullahi Sani, president of Arewa Film Makers Association; Shehu Hassan Kano, Chairman of ‘Kannywood’ Guild of Actors; and Sani Abubakar, president of Hausa Film Distributors Association of Nigeria. Others are Prof. Umar F. Jibril, Kano State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry and president of MOPPAN; Alh. Hassan Usman, North-West Zonal Manager, NCC; Umar Fage, Principal Education Officer, National Film and Video Censors Board, Kano; M.U. Sulaiman, HOD Prosecution, NCC, North-West Zone, and Sani Ahmed, Principal Education Officer, NCC, North-West Zone. In Abuja, top Nollywood practicioners present included Charles Novia, Francis Duru (erstwhile chairman of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Abuja Chapter), Frankwhite Nzeh, chairman, Association of Movie Producers, Abuja; Time Bello, Chairman, Screen Writers Guild of Nigeria, Abuja; Onwurah Agility, veteran actor Victor Decker, Zenith Abubakar, Paul T. Apel and Enitan Okediji. The director-General of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Afam Ezekude, was represented by Barr. Mike Akpan.



Having successfully wrapped up its stakeholders’ enlightenment campaign in active movie production hubs across the country, with its numerical strength on the increase, AVRS chairman, Mr. Ali-Balogun while speaking with newsmen in Abuja, hinted that AVRS would focus more attention on commercial users of audio visual works in the weeks ahead, as it plans to commence with actual licensing activities in line with its approval mandate. He however stressed that the enlightenment activities for its various publics is a continuous process that the AVRS board and management are committed to in order to mitigate the effect of piracy on right owners.