27th December, 2013
Barely two weeks after top gospel act Sammie Okposo carpeted Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria and Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria, for their failure to reach an agreement with Copyright Society of Nigeria, COSON, the singer has renounced his membership of COSON due to what he described as “the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of the Collecting Management Organisation, CMO.”
In a statement made available to P.M.NEWS Entertainment Cafe, the multiple award winning artiste who has been an avid member of the Tony Okoroji-led CMO since inception declared that COSON should desist from collecting royalties and acting on his behalf with immediate effect.
“I, Sammie Okposo, a proud Nigerian artiste wish to notify the general public and all stakeholders alike that I have stopped being a member of COSON,” he stated.
Reiterating his earlier statements, Okposo insisted that for COSON to be taken seriously, the need for transparency and accountability could not be overemphasized.
“The registration of COSON is commendable and may have set the industry on the path to growth and consolidation, but accountability and transparency is very important. My facts reveal that there is nothing in COSON’s constitution that limits the number of terms the Chairman of the Board could serve and this is extremely dangerous,” Okposo stressed.
He continued; “I read Onyeka Onwenu’s interview and she cited it as one of the reasons she left the board of COSON. All efforts must be made to ensure COSON does not end up the property of one man. COSON is now delving into awards and competitive activities that are not related to its core responsibilities and this is a distraction”.
Okposo also advised that the leadership of COSON must check the selfish interests of some of its members so that all artistes would be able to get their due respect and recognition.
“The organisation needs to imbibe the art of transparency in the disbursement of funds. How do you disburse royalty payments without showing the artistes the logs? It’s unacceptable. This issue must also be looked into with a view to ensuring that monies collected actually go to deserving artistes,” he added.
Okposo finally called on government to beam its search lights on the activities of peculiar organisations like COSON through the enactment and implementation of laws and oversight function.
He also expressed his support for the call by the House of Representatives for the registration of another CMO with a view to breaking the monopoly currently being enjoyed by COSON.
–Funsho Arogundade