It was clear to me that there was no way that the objectives of PMAN under my presidency would be achieved without a strong engagement with the key officers of the government in power.
I recall that my first ever meeting with any minister of the federal republic as PMAN President, was with John Shagaya, then Minister of Internal Affairs and a very influential person in the military government of Ibrahim Babangida. Colonel Shagaya was one of the first ministers to relocate from Lagos to Abuja. Our meeting was scheduled for10 am at Colonel Shagaya's Abuja office in the 'Area 1' Federal Secretariat in Garki.
PMAN could only manage money for two persons to go to Abuja. The late Rowland Onwuama, father of singer, Chichi of Africa and a very passionate member of my executive council left Lagos with me on an early morning flight to the practically virgin land called Abuja with the aim of coming back immediately after our meeting with the minister. At the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there was no minister. I was told that Colonel Shagaya had gone to a meeting with Miriam, the equally powerful and beautiful wife of President Babangida. A long wait then ensued. Rowland and I dozed and woke up, dozed and woke up. When the minister finally showed up at about 5 pm, it was clear that the PMAN team would be stranded in Abuja because it was too late to go back to Lagos and there was no money for any hotel accommodation.
I was apparently naïve and too inexperienced to understand that to see a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was a rare privilege reserved only for the anointed. I was angry and complained to the Minister that a meeting scheduled for 10 am was holding at 5 pm. The minister's reaction suggested that I was an imbecile and a fool not to appreciate the privilege I had been given to be seen at all. Some of the Minister's staff had to intervene to arrest what was fast degenerating into a shouting match between me and the Minister. Eventually, tempers came down and I explained that the PMAN team had come to Abuja to solicit the Minister's support in getting the government to establish a new copyright regime which would have tremendous benefits for the country. The mutual antagonism evaporated and a friendly discussion took place with the minister promising to do what he could.
At the end of the meeting, we told the Minister that we were stranded in his city. The Minister indeed made every attempt to ensure that the PMAN duo did not end up spending the night on the streets of Abuja. Our eventual savior was a man who is today addressed as Sir Chika Chiejine. Chiejine who comes from Onicha Olona, the same town as Onwuama and my guy, the late Ras Kimono, was one of the first people to strike it out in Abuja with next to nothing. Sir Chiejine today owns the extensive Savannah Suites hotel empire. I remain ever grateful to him.
PMAN also had several meetings with Tony Momoh who was Minister of Information & Culture. Prince Momoh never kept anyone waiting. There were no ministerial airs about him. I had met Prince Momoh long before he became a Minister, through a mutual friend, Chike Egbuna, the great "Mr. Soul" who used to be a significant voice on the BBC African Service and later became DG of the Imo State Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). While he was editor of Daily Times, Tony Momoh had also been quite helpful to me as a young singer and his Surulere home was a place to go for good food. His new powerful position had not changed him. Prince Momoh was to become a major factor in whatever success PMAN achieved under my presidency.
A large delegation from PMAN had also gone to meet with Ike Nwachukwu while he was Minister of Employment, Labour & Productivity. Once more, there was a long wait. At this time, I had become more accustomed to the ways of government officials and had done a crash course in Patience. I simply sat in the waiting room reading a book. When morning turned to afternoon and hunger set in, there was loud grumbling in the waiting room. First Vice President, Onyeka Onwenu announced that she could not stand it anymore and promptly headed for the elevator at the Federal Secretariat in Lagos. Some members of the team had to run after her, because just as she left, information came that the minister had arrived via the special elevator reserved for Ministers. The Minister, charming as ever, apologized for keeping the group waiting and gave one of those ready-made excuses that government officials have in abundance. As the team left, a member of the delegation joked that while I spoke, the Minister appeared to have had his attention on only one person in the room, the good looking and strikingly dressed vice president, Onyeka Onwenu!
Despite the tremendous activities going on at PMAN, there was a big problem. The music industry was deeply fractured. There was significant mistrust between the major multinational recording companies and a lot of the indigenous companies. There was equally no love lost between the artistes and nearly all the companies. Aigbe Lebarty who had contested the PMAN presidency with me had filed several court cases and started a media campaign against PMAN, deploying his self-published newspaper called Weekend Mirror. When he lost in court, Mr. Lebarty resuscitated a long dead musicians' association called Nigerian Union of Musicians (NUM), declared himself president of NUM and did all he could to derail PMAN. My response was to ignore him into irrelevance. While this approach worked, it took a while because Mr. Lebarty, elder brother to the great singer, Felix Lebarty, was a die hard.
The result was that too much energy was being dissipated and the industry could not speak with one voice on the issues in which unity was badly needed. One issue in which unity was absolutely necessary was the struggle for a new copyright regime. I discussed this problem with some of the heads of the recording companies. With the support of Bode Akinyemi, my former boss at EMI; Ton Seysner,.Managing Director of Polygram Records; G.A.D. Tabansi of Tabansi Records; A.O. Awofala of RMNL and Keji Okunowo whose CBS Records had become a significant player, PMAN invited all sections of the industry to a lunch meeting at Lagos Sheraton Hotel on November 12, 1987.
At the meeting which I chaired, the decision was taken to set up the Nigerian Association of Recording Industries (NARI) to act as a rallying point within the industry. The idea of NARI had been muted in the past but the energy to get it started was absent. Mrs. Keji Okunowo was elected Chairman and Mr. Goddy Tabansi of Tabansi Records became Secretary.
The setting up of NARI began a period of unprecedented co-operation in the music industry. For about a year, PMAN Headquarters hosted the secretariat of NARI and its meetings as the organization was nurtured. A lot of problems which could have ended up in court were resolved on the table at No 1 Oremeji Street, Ikeja.Significant respect and co-operation also developed between me and Mrs. Okunowo who joined forces with me in the copyright fight. To me, the era of close co-operation between NARI and PMAN was the golden era of the Nigerian music industry. It was that close co-operation that led to the birth of the Banderole scheme and later the Hologram scheme with the NCC which was used to give piracy a meaningful fight in Nigeria in the 90s. and which other nations copied from us. (to be continued)
See you next week.
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