HATRED IS A VIRUS

Do you know that hatred is a virus, the worst virus there is? Hatred permeates your body's engine and weakens the crankshaft. The piston and rings become loose and when you fire your engine, rather than get swift movement, what you end up with is smoke, lots of smoke! You wonder why your engine oil disappears so fast. Hatred drains you of happiness and rational thinking. Each time I see those who attack me with falsehood and hatred, they don't look so good. They appear gaunt and spent and they all seem to be ageing fast. Hatred is wearing them out.

I have spent much of my life wrestling with man's hatred. I have little material wealth but OMG, I have faith and I am H A P P Y! I appreciate the grace that the Almighty has given me to work hard, focus on my challenges and achieve results that please Him. I walk with my head held high and love the gifts He has given me.

I have heard some people say that I am arrogant… Arrogant ke? No sir! What they call arrogance is confidence. If you believe in God, you glow in His glory. I am not so stupid that I do not understand that whatever wisdom and strength I may deploy do not belong to me but to the Almighty. If you think that I am arrogant, please bury the thought. I simply glow in the glory of God.

I have said before that I do not want to be Dangote or Otedola or Ronaldo or Donald Trump. I do not need to be a governor or a minister. I am Tony Okoroji and boy, I like it!

I know that the good Lord has given to each of His children our peculiar gifts. The problem is that rather than harness our gifts, some people are very busy with envy and covetousness and fixated on the gifts of others. Somebody should tell them that I do not want to be them, can never be them and no matter how much they try, they cannot be me.

When I say that I drive on a full tank of faith, I mean that I have full confidence that if what I am doing is to the glory of God and the good of his children, I cannot fail. As my tank is filled with faith, so are my tires filled with love and no obstacle or bump can stop me.

 In their hearts, those who have gone after me know that I have done nothing against them and taken nothing that belongs to them. They are just driven by hate and so cannot think or act rationally. I was recently told by someone I used to respect that there are people who hate me because I am always winning. He actually advised that I should lose sometimes so that my 'adversaries' can be happy! In other words, I should be a failure so that some people can celebrate! People who do not work anywhere as hard as I do want recognition for what they have not done. See me, see trouble.

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I work 25 hours a day, 8 days a week. I never stop working and I don't complain about work. Life is work. Work is fun. In everything I do, I seek perfection. I have repeatedly asked the good Lord to use me to do good to as many people as possible. Every day I wake up, it is my duty to put a smile on the face of someone.

Do you know that nearly everyone who ferociously attacks me is someone I have given my love to? They take and take and at some point, conclude that I have become their 'mugu,' available to give everything they want. Then, they make a demand that I cannot give. Come and see wahala oh! They are shocked that their 'mugu' can say no to them sometimes. After all, I am supposed to be there for their use. Suddenly, friendship turns to hatred. From being an exceptionally good person, I have become a very bad man, selfish, cunning and even a criminal! That is how the hate swells and the desire to destroy ferments.

Please, let them go with their hate. I do not want to be part of it. I do not want to dwell in it. Hate belongs to the devil. I deal with love and I am happy with it. I know that the Almighty will never let me be successful in destroying anyone who has done nothing against me.

I have witnessed some people concoct so much lies, repeatedly tell their lies until they even begin to believe their lies. They continue to run from pillar to post and ask themselves why their lies have been so ineffective. They get frustrated that they do not achieve what they desire. The answer is simple: love conquers hate.

I do hope that all of us will learn that man is not God and God does not dwell in hate. If you kneel down and pray that you succeed with your hate, you have not prayed to God but to the devil. You will simply continue to be eaten up by the virus called hate.

Try pumping your tires with love and drive on a full tank of faith. I promise that you will never be stranded along the way. God is love!

 

See you next week

Ps: Tomorrow is September 1. For ten years, we have celebrated September 1 as "No Music Day" in Nigeria, a day we dwell on the massive abuse of the Intellectual property of creative people and investors in our music industry. Let's spare some thought for these our fellow countrymen tomorrow. Let the music pay!

THEY HAVE TRIED AND TRIED BUT COSON IS WORKING!

THEY HAVE TRIED AND TRIED BUT COSON IS WORKING!

Believe me, soon, the chickens will come home to roost. The conspirators who planned the failed coup to hijack COSON will pay a price, one by one. Several times I have seen Karma work. It is set to work again!

The nature of their conspiracy will also become public knowledge. What has already become very clear is that nothing they have done has been to help the members of COSON. It was all self-centered: greed of the worst kind. They wanted to conscript a system built as a legacy for every creative person in Nigeria, pocket it and use it to further enrich themselves. They knew that they can never get the members of COSON across the country to give them what they want. They had to arm twist a government agency, set up to uplift the stakeholders in the creative industry, to become a key partner in their perfidy. And all along, they have  pretended to be democrats!

The intellectual mastermind of this group is an old man who has become a habitual troublemaker. Before the battle to hijack COSON became public, I had written about him in this column. Just yesterday, I received two new court processes, both with his imprimatur. Reading through them, I did not know whether to laugh or to cry. Neither has rhyme nor reason. Each suggests that he has become terribly desperate. I can understand. Each and every scheme he has conjured to destroy COSON has failed. He is now running from pillar to post. I am not sure that he sleeps at night. At the end of the day, he may wish to run but he cannot hide. Eventually, everyone pays for the evil he does.

My guy, a habitual petition writer, has bullied some respected people in our industry to append their names to his petitions and court cases without letting them know what is eating him up.

I have done a careful assessment of our guy who knows how best to manage COSON. He is over 70 years old and I do not see what exceptional thing he has done all these years except that he is a prolific writer of petitions and position papers. With his skills, I am not aware of any book or even a pamphlet authored by him. He presents himself as an expert at building institutions but every institution he has been given to build is either dead or on death row. I know my guy very well. His kind populate our country - very good at talking but can't get anything done.

A few years ago, my guy contested elections to be on the Board of COSON. The members did not vote for him. He however thinks that he is so incredibly gifted that it ought to be clear to everyone. In his mind, the decision of the members not to vote for him was not their choice. According to him, he is not on the board because I manipulated the elections which I did not organize. My guy who says that he is a democrat does not seem to understand that democracy requires some humility.

My guy does not understand that in a democracy, you must respect the right of the people to choose a fool over the smartest guy in the room. I am not sure that there is any sane person who cannot see that Hilary Clinton is a smarter person than Donald Trump who cannot restrain himself from tweeting and retweeting bizarre stuff every day. Yet, today, Donald J. Trump resides in the White House and Hilary Clinton lives in Upstate New York. She has no choice but to accept the facts. In Nigeria, there are many who believe that Goodluck Jonathan and Atiku Abubakar would have made better presidents than Muhammadu Buhari. Like it or not, Muhammadu Buhari sleeps and wakes up at Aso Rock Villa.

A few years ago, almost no one in Nigeria gave COSON a chance. While my guy was busy writing his petitions, the beautiful COSON House was built without any kobo from the public purse. While this old man was on his computer keyboard composing one petition after another, COSON gave employment to some very brilliant and very well-trained Nigerians and for years has paid their salaries and allowances as at when due. While my guy has been crafting his petitions, COSON has distributed several millions of Naira to members across Nigeria every year. The organization he has so much spite for has executed reciprocal representation agreements covering over 150 collective management organizations in every corner of the globe. Its accounts are audited and filed as when due. Every two years, COSON organizes the amazing COSON Week, the last: eight back to back events organized over eight days in eight different and scintillating venues: some of the best organized events in Nigerian history. Despite my guy's unending petitions, on all indices of growth, COSON has been a very successful Nigerian story.

I was once President of PMAN, the musicians' union. PMAN was a most respected Nigerian institution. We were celebrated. People like my guy started their petition writing and agitation. I left PMAN for them. Everyone can see what has become of our once great PMAN.

Oh yes, they have done everything to infiltrate the COSON Board and have failed. We argue very vigorously on the COSON Board but we do not throw chairs. Because we do not throw chairs, my guy says that the COSON Board is a rubber stamp Board. Of course, If we were fighting ourselves on the streets, my guy would say, "Can't everyone see that they are unstable? Kick them out!'

COSON has become very attractive. Suddenly, all the people who were too busy to give tolerable time to COSON know how to run COSON better and they can't wait to chase us out.

COSON was started in a two bedroom flat. At some point, I spent 60 days and nights at the COSON office, only going home periodically to pick up a change of clothes. My bed was the office floor. I was writing legal documents, press releases, accounting documents, organizational charts, etc. Many times, I worked 20 hours in a stretch. Without the compliment of staff that COSON now has, that was how the building blocks were laid. The blocks were held together by incredible self-denial and iron clad belief that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. I have been attacked left, right and center and have lost count how many times I have gone to court to defend my name and to defend the COSON legacy. They have told tales of fabulous property owned by me. They cannot give you one address because such property exists only in their warped minds. 

I am human and not indispensable. I however understand the COSON vision, its very foundation and how the building blocks have been laid. I know the unique strengths and weaknesses of the organization. There is no question that there are people who dream of taking over COSON not because they want to defend the interest of the members but because they think that COSON has money that they can get their hands on. They neither have the knowledge nor the training to deal with the very complex subject of collective management of copyright. They lack the liver to take on the many enemies who are determined to thwart the system. They do not possess the skills to manage the many contending interests but they are very hungry for control. In less than six months, they will destroy this wonderful organization we have carefully built and turn it into another PMAN.

I have decided that I will not be bullied out. They can write as many petitions as they want, file as many court cases as they want and conspire ceaselessly as they want, I will not be bullied out. As long as the members of COSON genuinely want me to protect their legacy, I will be there to protect what belongs to them. Let the petition writers continue to write their petitions. What they may not know is that Karma is on the way.

See you next week.

IS IT TRUE THAT THERE IS NO REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT IN NIGERIA?

IS IT TRUE THAT THERE IS NO REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT IN NIGERIA?

 

Believe it or not, copyright protection begins as soon as an original and eligible work is created and put in a tangible form.  Contrary to popular belief, there is absolutely no requirement for a work to be registered in order to enjoy copyright protection in Nigeria.  There is no Registrar or Registry of copyright anywhere in Nigeria and no formality is necessary by law. Anyone telling you that he is registering your copyright in Nigeria is engaged in some form of 419. I know that a large number of people will react to this position with disbelief.  Some may even ask, "how then do I prove that I own the copyright in my work?"

 

It is very true that copyright is intellectual property. By some recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the owner of copyright clearly enjoys the proprietary rights enshrined in Section 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, the owner of copyright is not like the owner of a piece of land who may require a C of O to establish the ownership of his land.

 

So, why then do people troop to organizations like the NCC or COSON to 'register' their works? To my mind, such activities are merely documentation of the works in the databases of these establishments for the purpose of administering the works and not registration and they do not confer any constitutional or legal rights to the owners of the works.

 

Indeed, registration of copyright is contrary to the provisions of the various international copyright conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory. An example is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary & Artistic Works administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which Nigeria joined on September 14, 1993. Article 5 (2) of the Berne Convention makes it clear that no formality is needed to ensure protection of copyright. In other words, no registration is required, no deposit is required and no notification is required. Protection is automatic.

 

In fact, registration of copyright is a dying practice. Across the world, only the United States of America still registers copyright and only for the purpose of bringing an action and not for protection. Elsewhere in the world, copyright registries have been dismantled and the registrars sent home.

 

If you do not give serious thought to the issue, you may consider the absence of any statutory registration procedure for copyright as a major defect of the Nigerian Copyright law. I wish to discuss some of the many reasons why it has been widely accepted across the globe that registration of copyright is not such a good idea.

 

Copyright does not just protect musical works, sound recordings, books, plays, movies, computer programs, photographs, broadcasts, etc. Copyright protects an almost endless list of creative works and works of artistic craftmanship such as paintings, drawings, etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, engravings, prints, maps, plans, diagrams, works of architecture, sculptural works, etc.

 

It may be clear to a paper presenter at a seminar or workshop that his work enjoys copyright protection but one is not sure whether the local pastor is aware that any unauthorized reproduction of his Sunday sermon is an infringement of his copyright and that he is entitled to sue, not just before God but in a court of law.

 

It may also appear odd but any unauthorized copying of a letter, report or memorandum, beyond what would be deemed as fair use, is indeed an infringement of copyright. Please note that your odd letter to your sweetheart is also protected by copyright.

 

The truth is that it is practically impossible to register even a tiny fraction of the works eligible for copyright.  Every day, without being conscious of it, we are all creating eligible works in our letters, reports, memos, lectures, addresses, sermons, scripts, etc. Should we be required to register all of these, we will have no time to do any other work.  Should the failure to register deny us the necessary protection? There are many who do not think so. To even attempt to register a fraction of the works eligible for copyright requires a bureaucracy, the size and cost of which is not meaningful to contemplate.

 

Just think of it: If registration is a condition for copyright protection, it then means that anyone who registers a work may claim copyright in the work even if he is not the creator of the work. Can you imagine the commotion that is likely to cause in a semi-literate society like ours with the enormous danger of fraudulent registrations which may in fact defeat the whole idea of copyright protection?

 

So, how do people establish the ownership of copyright in their works? Experience has shown that the quantum of disputes related to authorship, in decided copyright matters, is not so significant as to warrant the requirement for massive registration. Such disputes often are resolved using witnesses and other documentary evidence.  A cost/benefit analysis certainly cannot not justify registration.

 

Some may suggest that we register only the works we consider important. How do we know which works will ultimately be important? A lot of the works which overtime have acquired great economic or artistic value may never have been registered when they were created because little value may have been placed on them.  It means that as their true value became clear, they would have been denied copyright protection because of the failure to register them when they were made.

 

There are those who despite the foregoing explanation still do not feel comfortable about the lack of formal registration procedures.  Such persons can avail themselves of the age long practice of using the post office. The steps to take are as follows: -

 

Place a copy of the work requiring registration in an envelope.  Seal the envelope.  Address the envelope to yourself.  Register the package at the post office and post it.  Upon receipt of the package, do not open it.  If there is a dispute in future as to when the work was created, the sealed envelope which may be opened in court, may help establish evidence of the time of creation.

 

I hope that this piece has helped us to understand that things look very different when we give them deep thought.

 

The foregoing, in my series of copyright lectures in "Saturday Breakfast", is adapted from my book, "Copyright & the New Millionaires" A hard copy of the book can be obtained at TOPS LTD, 8 Tokunbo Alli St, Off Toyin Street, Ikeja. You may also call Edith on 0803 849 6110. I hope you found the piece informative.

 

See you next week.

TO ENJOY COPYRIGHT, A WORK MUST BE ORIGINAL

 

For a literary, musical or artistic work to enjoy copyright protection in Nigeria, it must have an original character. In other words, some effort in the sense of independent skill, industry, experience or judgement must have been expended in producing the work.

 

The question may then be asked; since the Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is widely reputed to have originated Afro Beat music, is it an infringement of Fela's copyright for Dede Mabiaku or Alariwo or even Femi to perform Afro Beat? Certainly not! It has become generally accepted that a person may create a new work in the same general form as an already existing work and there will be no infringement of copyright "provided he does so from his own resources and makes the work he so originates a work of his own, by his own labour and industry bestowed upon it".

 

From the above, if Lagbaja was to perform or make a new recording of Fela's mega hit tune, "Shakara" without authorization or compliance with the formalities required by law, he may be held for infringement of copyright as would be the case if he did not obtain necessary permission for recording his own version of Chris Ajilo's "Eko Gbagbere". However, the fact that some people consider "Coolu Temper" to be Afro Beat does not make Lagbaja a copyright infringer. While "Coolu Temper" and "Shakara" may belong to a similar musical genre, each of these beautiful pieces of music has been created with independent skill. Taking it further, we all can play our own version of reggae music all we want, but if we reproduce Bob Marley's "No Woman no Cry" without authorization or following the formalities prescribed by law, katakata may blow!

 

Following the ground-breaking success of the home video movie, "Living in Bondage" by Ken Nnebue's Nek Video, which many claim to have given birth to what we today know as Nollywood, many similar home video movies emerged in the Nigerian market in quick succession clearly to exploit the success of "Living in Bondage".  While some of these videos may be poor imitations of "Living in Bondage", no infringement of copyright may have occurred as long as they posses substantially independent story lines.

 

In determining originality, emphasis should be on the novelty or newness of the expression itself and not the novelty of the form of expression.  While the form of expression may be new, it need not be.  Applying this principle to our previous discussion, Afro Beat music is a form of expression while Shakara and Coolu Temper are different expressions using the Afro Beat form.  The copying of Afro Beat is not an infringement of copyright but the copying of Shakara is an infringement.

 

Originality with respect to copyright does not suggest that a similar work has not been created.  It means that the expression has not been copied.  A similar position was taken by Lord Reid with respect to literary works in University of London Press Ltd. v. University Tutorial Press Ltd.  Likewise, in the words of Justice Patterson in Ladbroke Ltd. v. William Hill Ltd, "the originality which is required relates to the expression of the thought.  But the Act does not require that the expression must be in an original or novel form but that the work must not be copied from another work – that it should originate from the author".

 

The world-wide success of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart⁶ has inspired many African writers to write in Achebe's form.  None of these novels may correctly be said to have infringed Achebe's copyright.

 

What then is the exact amount of effort which the author must make to give a work an original character? The labour, knowledge, judgement, skill, etc. which a creator may bestow upon a work to give it an original character cannot be defined in precise terms.  In every case, it must be determined with regards to the special circumstances of the case. 

 

It may also need stating that despite the fact that copyright in another work may have been infringed in the making of a new work, the new work will still be eligible for copyright as long as it is substantially not a copy of the other work⁷.

 

In the area of patents, once a work enjoys patent protection, no similar or identical work can enjoy the benefits of patent rights.  In the field of copyright however, it is indeed possible to have a similar or identical work being protected by copyright as long as both works were independently produced and any similarity is simply coincidental.

 

The English judge, Justice Sargant stated this clearly in Corelli v. Gray when he said "no absolute monopoly is given to authors analogous to that conferred on inventors of patents.  That is to say, if it could be shown as a matter of fact that two precisely similar works were in fact produced wholly independently of one another, I do not think that the author of the work that was published first would be entitled to restrain the publication by the other author of that author's independent and original work".

 

Just remember that for a literary, musical or artistic work to enjoy copyright protection in Nigeria, some effort in the sense of independent skill, industry, experience or judgement must have been expended in producing the work. In other words, the work must be original.

 

The foregoing, in my series of copyright lectures in "Saturday Breakfast", is adapted from my book, "Copyright & the New Millionaires" A hard copy of the book can be obtained at TOPS LTD, 8 Tokunbo Alli St, Off Toyin Street, Ikeja. You may also call Edith on 0803 849 6110. I hope you found the piece informative.

 

See you next week.

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⁷

THERE IS NO COPYRIGHT IN IDEAS

For any literary or artistic work to be eligible for copyright, the work must be fixed in a definite medium of expression now known or later to be developed, from which it can be perceived reproduced or otherwise communicated either directly or with the aid of any machine or device.

 

As was graphically illustrated in the story of Emeka and Chike told in Saturday Breakfast of June 15, 2019, copyright does not protect ideas.  For any work to enjoy copyright protection, the ideas must have been put into a tangible form.  In other words, the work must be on paper, tape, disc, film, etc. As far back as 1938, in an old English case of Donoghue v. Allied Newspapers Ltd, Judge Farewell said, "this, at any rate, is clear beyond all questions that there is no copyright in an idea or in ideas".

 

In a much earlier case of Hollingrake v. Truswell, Lord Justice Lindley said, "copyright, however, does not extend to ideas, or schemes, or systems, or methods; it is confined to their expression; and if their expression is not copied, the copyright is not infringed.

 

Why is it necessary for an idea to be fixed before it is eligible for copyright protection?  Put differently, what will be the consequence if ideas were granted copyright protection?  It seems clear that it will result to something close to legal anarchy because anyone will be free to lay claim to any ideas that meets his fancy and demand legal rights to such ideas.  In what practical way can such a claim be disputed? If an idea is not required to be put in a tangible form, how can anyone say with certainty that the idea for the mega hit, Sweet Mother did not originate from this author instead of the late Prince Nico Mbarga? 

 

Judge Farewell in Donoghue v. Allied Newspapers Ltd³, said that in order to obtain protection, an idea must be expressed in a definite medium because it ensures certainty in the subject matter and avoids injustice to the rest of the world.

 

Furthermore, it goes without saying that Equity does not protect the indolent.  Anyone who wishes to enjoy some legal rights should be prepared to take some practical steps to enjoy such rights.  Having an 'idea' is not enough to enjoy copyright protection, practical steps must be taken to write down, record or fix such an idea in a definite medium of expression.

 

In the case of Tate vs. Thomas, one Peterman conceived the idea for a play, "The Lads of the Village" and asked the three plaintiffs to compose the music and write the lyrics and dialogue. This they did to the satisfaction of Peterman who paid for the services of the plaintiffs. In an action for infringement, the defendant, Thomas claimed to have acquired the film rights from Peterman. Justice Eve however held that Peterman was neither the author nor a co-author of "The Lads of the Village" and had no copyright to assign. He only had an idea! The arrangement with the plaintiff only gave him the right to produce the play on stage as long as he made the agreed payments to the joint author.

 

Similarly, in 1983, this author produced the recording of a popular song in Nigeria titled "Baby Kilode?" performed by a young Nigerian singer, Dizzy K. Falola. Not long after the release of the record which received critical acclaim, another well- known Nigerian artiste, the late great Harry Mosco claimed that he had asked Dizzy K. Falola to write a song with the title, "Kilode" for him.  In other words, he claimed that he had conceived the idea for Baby Kilode? and that his rights had been infringed. For weeks, there was sustained controversy over this development which almost torpedoed the success of the song as Dizzy K. Falola claimed that he had not infringed Harry Mosco's copyright as the copyright in "Baby Kilode" belonged to him. The controversy began to die down only when knowledgeable people in the music industry intervened and explained to Harry Mosco the legal maxim, there is no copyright in ideas.

 

Please tell anyone who cares to know, there is no copyright in ideas.

 

The foregoing, in my series of copyright lectures in "Saturday Breakfast", is adapted from my book, "Copyright & the New Millionaires" A hard copy of the book can be obtained at TOPS LTD, 8 Tokunbo Alli St, Off Toyin Street, Ikeja. You may also call Edith on 0803 849 6110. I hope you found the piece informative.

 

See you next week.

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SHOULD I STEAL TO MAKE MY FRIENDS HAPPY?

If my cell phone rings ten times, you can be sure that seven times, the guy on the other side has a problem waiting for me to solve. I don't get fooled anymore if he spends quite some time asking about the wife and the children and work and weather and the economy.

Patience… he will get to it. You are the only one who can save the situation. His landlord is on his case and he needs money urgently to settle the very troublesome landlord or to pack to a new place. The children are at home because of 'ordinary' eighty thousand naira to pay their school fees. The wife is in hospital and if you do not intervene, she might die there! There is not even one cup of garri at home and he does not know what to do.

Believe me, the situation in the land is that serious. The guy on the on the other end does not have to be your brother, cousin, old friend or former classmate. You probably never heard of him but it does not matter. Somehow, he has your number. What do you do? Tell him to go to hell and switch off? Let him know that you are struggling too? Of course, he will not give up and will tell you "I am sending you my account number. Just do something". After all, like a friend of mine would say, "half bread is better than groundnut" or better put in the famous words of my guy, Segun Arinze, 'at all… at all, na him bad!"  If after trying, his hook does not catch immediate fish, then he would ask you, 'when do I hear from you?'. Guy, you have just acquired a new customer.          

I do not want to make light of the difficult situation people in the land are facing. Times are tough and there are many with genuine problems that we should address if we have the means. There are also many who have graduated with honours from the University of Begging. From Monday to Sunday, they are on the phone with a list of numbers telling their tales of woe.

If you have a job that once in a while puts your face in a newspaper or on television, you are in trouble. The assumption is that you have a big carton of money around you to dispense and each time you do not give, you are being tight fisted or like some young ladies will say, 'the man na Aradite, in fact, na Super Glue!". You want to blame my people? When they see the billions and zillions that public officers in our land steal and get away with, there is this huge assumption that everyone in Nigeria that has been associated with some kind of leadership has some money in a soak-away pit.

I know some of my kinsmen who loath me because I have not erected a glittering mansion in Lagos. In their thinking, 'he should have a house worthy of the positions he has held'. I understand them. In our world, the achievement of a man is measured by the size of his house and the money he donates in public and not by his intellect, character or his contribution to the development of mankind.

Yes, I once served on a Federal Government Board. My allowance was the tidy sum of fifteen thousand naira. Please, how many times would I multiply fifteen thousand naira and build a mansion with it? In my other situations, I have been an advocate, mostly unpaid. I once had to say that I spend eighty percent of my time working for free and twenty percent, working to earn a living. But in Nigeria, it does not matter. Everyone believes that once you hold a position of leadership, you have a duty to conjure something under the table and you are expected to distribute the loot to your friends and kinsmen. That is how they get their share of the national cake. In our land, the dominant position is that you are an imbecile if you hold public office and you do not loot.

My biggest problem over the years has repeatedly been with close friends who verily believe that I must be cooking 'something' and I am just being smart in keeping it away from them. Because of the prevailing culture, it is difficult for many to believe that there are citizens of Nigeria who do not steal.

I have told this tale before of how I had been invited to the EFCC office in Lagos while Ribadu was Chairman, to respond to some crazy allegations made about my tenure as President of PMAN. The EFCC had just been set up. I met some very bright officers at the EFCC. My impression before then of law enforcement in Nigeria was garagara, crudity and brute force. I was really impressed by the professionalism and thoroughness with which the gentlemen at the EFCC went about their work.

The people who reported me to the EFCC were people I had once considered to be my friends. They thought I was 'chopping alone' and swore to deal with me. The officers at EFCC left no stone unturned in search of the truth. They went back ten years to obtain PMAN cash books, records of PMAN accounts in different banks, information filed by PMAN with the Registrar of Trade Unions under my tenure, etc.

In the final days of their investigation, the EFCC officials brought me and my accusers into one room with accountants, auditors, bank officials and former PMAN executives and for an entire day went line by line through practically every financial transaction during my tenure. Nothing escaped their attention. At the end of the day, no one could show how I stole one Naira from PMAN and the EFCC officers shook my hand and asked me to go. While my accusers drove away in a fleet of choice SUVs, I left the EFCC in my only car of the time, a Tokunbo Mercedes Benz 190 which had only three of the four cylinders working. I was tired but proud that not one word I spoke could be impeached.  Today, once again, I go through a similar experience.

I feel sorry for our country men who try to make sense of the horror film called Nigeria. While Nigerians shout about corruption, they don't mind corruption as long as they are the beneficiaries. They don't care how much anyone steals as long as they can get part of the loot. Believe me, there are people waiting right now to show Buhari's yet to be appointed ministers how to steal money from government so that they can benefit.

Please, should I steal to make my friends happy?

See you next week.

AND SANWO OLU SCORES A GOAL!

 

Do we need to make a law compelling anyone elected to any office in Nigeria to name his cabinet within two weeks of being sworn in? I had thought that if you were seeking to be elected to some office, you would have identified most of the people you intend to work with to deliver the promises you are making.

 

Across the nation, the appointment of ministers and commissioners seems to have become rocket science, a very big deal! The president can't name his ministers, the governors can't name their commissioners and the nation is in suspended animation or if you prefer, in limbo. I am not sure that anyone is calculating the huge price that Nigeria is paying because not much is getting done. The horse trading, consultations and considerations required to pick a few good men to head our government departments appear to be beyond the capabilities of the men we have elected.

 

That is understandable because of the winner takes all kind of politics we practice. Holding office in our land is not considered to be about service. It is the password to unimaginable riches and comfort. Our politicians believe that if you do not have a pipe to government allocation, you are in very big trouble. You are indeed a dead man walking. So, everybody is involved in the intense haggling for who controls which ministry. If your guy becomes minister in an area of interest to you, you are made. If on the other hand, your adversary makes it to the ministry you depend on for your bread and butter, hunger and possibly death will be staring you in the face. So, you think you are smart and became governor due to your skills? Woe betide you if you do not take care of your political godfathers. Ask Akinwunmi Ambode what happened to him.

 

Last week, in this column, I cried over the agony a lot of us living in Lagos have had to go through in recent weeks because no one appears to be dealing with the mad traffic situation in Lagos. Lagos, like many states, has no commissioners. In the last several weeks what we have seen in Lagos is not the infamous traffic jam. It has been anarchy. It has been mayhem.

 

Last week, I gave a specific example of what I personally have had to undergo. And I wrote, "I live in the part of Lagos that to get to work in Ikeja, I have to pass through a place called 'First Bridge' along the Lagos – Abeokuta Express way. Two months ago, the journey between 'First Bridge' and the ramp by the domestic airport in Ikeja took an average of ten minutes.

 

"Every day now, it takes anywhere between two hours and three hours to get from
First Bridge to the airport. That is about the time it should take you to travel from Lagos to Benin City! After the stress, the pollution, the breakdowns, the cursing and the quarrelling, you are of no use to anyone, not yourself, not your job and most certainly, not the economy. If you have a flight to catch, you will be watching the plane in the air from the window of your car. If you have a meeting, better do it on the phone.

 

"To get back home, I have to do the U turn between the Airport Bus Stop and PWD. What happens at that U Turn every evening is absolute commotion. No one and no system is in charge. Your patience is tested beyond breaking point and if you survive it without your car being bashed up, you wriggle to Ikeja "Along" where you see a sea of Nigerians in peace time trekking to get to where ever, some with heavy loads on their heads. Believe me, it is like a scene from a theatre of war. This is happening every day. To be candid, I am frightened to leave home these days".

I woke up yesterday wondering what to do. Two days before, I had called the great Arts journalist, Shaibu Husseini to thank him for the tireless personal sacrifice he had made to celebrate Eddie Ugbomah, Nigeria's frontline film maker, while he was ill and since his passing on. I had assured Shaibu that I would attend Eddie's funeral service at the National Theatre yesterday. Eddie was good to me. I attend funeral events of people in the Arts because I believe that the way we honour people in death can inspire our young people to seek greatness. Did you see the funeral ceremony of Michael Jackson, Muhammed Ali or Aretha Franklin? That is why I was involved in the organization of the iconic funeral ceremonies of late Christy Essien Igbokwe and Ras Kimono.

 

So, how do I get to the National Theatre without a helicopter? I set out saying to myself that if I do not get there before the end of the event, I would at least console myself that I tried. To worsen matters, it had rained the night before and there was sure to be flood water at 'Along'.

 

Lo and behold, the journey from 'First Bridge' to the airport ramp which last week was taking between 2 and 3 hours every day took all of 8 minutes! I had to close my eyes and open them to be sure that I was not dreaming. Someone had performed a miracle! There was no flood water and the potholes at 'Ikeja Along' had been patched. Suddenly, I had time on my hands and decided to first go to the office, treat some documents before going on to the National Theatre.

 

Just think of the little effort it took to relieve the burden off the thousands who had been suffering on that road. Some of my friends who read Saturday Breakfast last week called on the phone in fear that I may have stepped on big toes. They were not sure that I was not asking for trouble from Governor Babjide Sanwo Olu. I wrote last Saturday's piece because I love my country and I want Governor Sanwo Olu to succeed. I verily believe that the true object of leadership is to reduce the burden of the led. Those of us, the led, must help our leaders to reduce our burden.

 

Did my piece last week awaken someone to perform the miracle at "Ikeja Along"? I do not know. What I know is that by doing what they did, Governor Sanwo Olu and his team scored a goal for the people who elected him. It was in the same week that one young man called Samuel Chukwueze scored that unforgettable goal for the Nigerian nation that warned South Africa not to mess with Nigeria.

 

By the way, on my way home, it was a smooth drive all the way. The commotion at 'U – Turn' between the airport and PWD had completely disappeared. Abey, my young driver, just cruised on.  Thank you Babajide Sanwo Olu.

 

See you next week.

WHERE IS AMBODE?

Can anyone understand what is going on in Lagos? Yes, the city has always had a reputation for awful traffic. Put simply, the Lagos traffic jam is legendry. Even my guy, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, had to do a song called 'Go Slow' in honour of the majestic Lagos traffic.

Some years ago, some 'brilliant' guy in government decreed the odd and even number system to reduce the number of cars on the streets of Lagos. How was that supposed to work? If the number of your car started with 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9, you were allowed during the working week, to drive the car on the major streets of Lagos only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If on the other hand, you owned a car with the number beginning with 2, 4, 6 or 8, the car was allowed on the road only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That seemed to have worked for a while.

But trust Lagosians! To beat the system, almost everyone in Lagos acquired two cars. No matter how old or rickety, you had to have one odd numbered car and another even numbered car to live in Lagos. The result? Our mega city with no mass transit system, became the dumping ground of every battered, tired and rickety vehicle in the world. They came from Belgium, Amsterdam, Baltimore and parts unknown. Our ports were awash with these contraptions and the guys at the ports in Cotonou and those who smuggled the old machines through our land boarders made a killing.

In the last several weeks what we have seen in Lagos is not the infamous traffic jam. It is anarchy. It is mayhem. Let me give you an example. I live in the part of Lagos that to get to work in Ikeja, I have to pass through a place called "First Bridge" along the Lagos – Abeokuta Express way. Two months ago, the journey between "First Bridge" and the ramp by the domestic airport in Ikeja took an average of ten minutes.

Every day now, it takes anywhere between two hours and three hours to get from
First Bridge to the airport. That is about the time it should take you to travel from Lagos to Benin City! After the stress, the pollution, the breakdowns, the cursing and the quarrelling, you are of no use to anyone, not yourself, not your job and most certainly, not the economy. If you have a flight to catch, you will be watching the plane in the air from the window of your car. If you have a meeting, better do it on the phone.

To get back home, I have to do the U turn between the Airport Bus Stop and PWD. What happens at that U Turn every evening is absolute commotion. No one and no system is in charge. Your patience is tested beyond breaking point and if you survive it without your car being bashed up, you wriggle to Ikeja "Along" where you see a sea of Nigerians in peace time trekking to get to where ever, some with heavy loads on their heads. Believe me, it is like a scene from a theatre of war. This is happening every day. To be candid, I am frightened to leave home these days.

I am told that this is going on because our new governor, His Excellency Babajide Sanwo Olu does not yet have Commissioners. If I recall correctly our new Governor was elected on March 9, 2019. That is about four months ago and there is still no cabinet. Before the elections, I once met the candidate Sanwo Olu at an event. He seemed to have an answer for everything. I took it for granted that he had a team ready with which to perform the wonders he was promising.

I am told that there is a lot of haggling going on. It is time to share the loot and all those who brought some money or some foot soldiers are asking for their pound of flesh and the poor governor may end up with a team of strange bed fellows he has no control over. That is the nature of the politics we have developed in Nigeria.

My question is: While the horse trading is going on, must the state grind to a halt? Let me repeat that I had no problem with Akinwunmi Ambode as governor. To me, he was pro-active. I could see what he was trying to do with Lagos and I thought that Lagos would have been a much better state if he was allowed to finish a lot of what he had started. But Ambode is gone not because the people of Lagos did not want him but because the people who control his party had a problem with him. Ambode is gone with his commissioners but did he take the permanent secretaries with him and the Heads of Departments too? Did he take common sense with him too? Pray did Ambode go with the password of Lagos State?

When you check, the reason for the madness on Lagos roads are some pot holes which can be filled for next to nothing with a little imagination or some drains somewhere which do not require a super budget to clear. No one appears to be in charge and the pain to the people is just unimaginable.

If this government is not ready, should we invite Akinwunmi Ambode back to take charge until the government is ready? I am tired.

See you next week

24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF THE COSON CHAIR

The following breakfast was first served in August 2015. Recent events have made me to microwave the delicacy and to re-serve it. Please enjoy… 

I live on the edge just like a ball juggler. I had another exhausting week when circumstances required me to be everywhere at the same time. With endless phone calls and e-mails in between, on Monday, I had to be at the imposing Ultima Studio in Lekki to speak to the young kids battling for the top prize in the MTN Project Fame contest. It was a sharp group and I had to speak with them about copyright, collective management and the importance of these in their intended career in music. It was an exhilarating experience. I was impressed by the boldness and professionalism of Femi Ayeni and his crew at Ultima, the same crew that produces Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Leaving Ultima with my team of Chinedu Chukwuji, Bernice Eriemeghe and May Uket, we had to go and see Tajudeen Adepetu, another incredibly creative and very hard working Nigerian. Taju is a revolutionary. Very few have impacted TV production in Nigeria like Tajudeen Adepetu who brought to our homes many TV soap operas such as Treasure, Everyday People, Saints and Sinners, Candlelight, One Love and Domino.  Taju is the unseen hand behind top TV channels like Soundcity, ONTV, Spice, Trybe, etc. You would think that a guy like Taju would be satisfied with what he has done. For where?! My guy Taju is still not happy with the array of TV monitors spread out in front of his desk by which he simultaneously monitors what each of his channels is showing. He wants to add more. Restless Taju is working on more channels including some radio stations and construction is going on all over his Lekki Empire!

From Soundcity, we drove to Eko Hotel to keep a date with S.O. Alabi. Chief Samuel Olu Alabi was until recently the no-nonsense President of the Hotel & Personal Services Employers Association of Nigeria (HOPSEA) to which most of the hotels across Nigeria belong. When COSON was approved, it was on S.O. Alabi that it fell to break the age old log jam over the payment of copyright royalties for the music deployed by hotels in Nigeria. Several times, Alabi and I came close to exchanging blows as he stoutly defended the interest of the hotel industry on behalf of which he negotiated and I would not give an inch as I was convinced that the music industry in Nigeria had been exploited for too long. Today, I consider S.O. Alabi to be my friend. While we stood on different sides of the divide, I could not but admire his total dedication to the cause of the people he had been elected to represent.

Done with Alabi, we had to head to Ikeja fast before the crazy 'go slow' out of the Island got the better of us. We thought we were smart. It did not work. We spent close to two hours in the traffic. By the time we got to the COSON office in Opebi, I was dead tired. What was I to do? Go home?

Next morning, Tuesday, was the scheduled Grand Unveiling of the events of the 2015 COSON Week. We had invited many people to COSON for the event. The unveiling was meant to be a show and all the careful planning and coordination required for any good show had to be in place. Tired or not, it was my job to produce the event. I had to run a check on all the arrangements.

By 10 pm, virtually everyone in the office had deserted me, except Abey, my young driver and Femi, my graphic designer. The venue needed to be set up overnight, the show flow needed to be developed, the scripts had to be written and the guys setting up the props overnight had to be supervised. Tired or not, it became clear that if the Unveiling was to go ahead successfully the next morning, there was no way I would go home. Hunger set in but try as he could, Abey could not find food anywhere.

About 2.00 am I could no longer stop myself from dozing. The keyboard of my laptop was now looking blurred. I had to sleep. There was no bed, no couch, no pillow, no mart, no 'cover cloth', nothing. I had to crash on the bare floor in the COSON Board room. After about 30 minutes, it became too cold and I began to shiver. I switched off the air conditioner but that was a huge mistake. The mosquitoes in Opebi discovered that there was one mugu in the neighbourhood sleeping without any covering and they attacked me from every direction. At 3.30 am, I decided that this sleep business was a ruse. I could not close my eyes. I went back to my laptop and wrote my speech for the unveiling and developed the show flow.  As dawn came, I was a wreck of a human being with pains all over me but I had to keep moving.

Anyone who saw me on Monday and Tuesday would recognize that I had not changed my clothes. Apart from replacing my jacket with some leather stuff, I was wearing the same clothes. Then, Edith, my P.A., scared like hell, ran to me to say that one of the four models who had been choreographed with specific costumes made for the unveiling did not show up and could not be reached on the phone. The guy responsible for the pyrotechnics also could not be located. It was time for quick thinking. Angie, one of the young COSON staff members had to be taken off her job and trained to be a model in fifteen minutes. I don't know if anyone noticed that the red costume was hanging loose on Angie because it was really not made for her but she carried herself well. I think we pulled the unveiling off in grand style. The threat of rain could not stop us, the traffic could not stop us, the COSON Front Garden was full with showbiz people and a battery of journalists and cameras from every serious TV channel in the land. With all humility, the unveiling of the COSON Week was a blast with pyrotechnics, great models and all.

Just as the unveiling was ending, I was reminded that I had to prepare the documents for a meeting holding the following morning in Abuja. I was booked on the 6.45 a.m. Aero flight to Abuja for a meeting with the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to discuss the piracy menace in the country. At Force Headquarters in Abuja, everybody was warm.   It was a good meeting followed by several other meetings.

I know that many people would believe that it is money that drives this lifestyle. Indeed, one journalist told a friend of mine during the week that COSON is Tony Okoroji's 'cash cow'. I asked to meet with the journalist and as nicely as I could, explained to him that I get paid no salary by COSON and I am not in the business of taking what does not belong to me. He stared at me in bewilderment. Then, I explained to him that despite the madness in the land, I am not the only Nigerian who has not gone money crazy and that there are indeed many who are driven not by money but by what they believe in. I told him that if he tried, he would find that it is not so difficult to do and that he can indeed join the group.

Cash-cow?! At my age?! What nature of cash would make me sleep on the bare floor feasted endlessly by crazy mosquitoes?

See you next week.

MAY THE ALMIGHTY FORGIVE THEM

It is crazy that I have spent much of my life wrestling with man's hatred. I have little material wealth but I have faith and happiness. I appreciate the grace that the Almighty has given to me to work hard, focus on every challenge and achieve results that please him. I love the gift He has given me and I try to use the gift the best I can.

I have said before that I do not wish to be Dangote or Otedola or Ronaldo or Donald Trump. I am Tony Okoroji and I like it.

I know that the good Lord has given to each of his children, our peculiar gifts. The problem is that rather than harness their gifts, some people are very busy with envy and covetousness and fixated on the gifts of others. I am totally convinced that the people who seem to do nothing else these days but talk about Tony Okoroji and the institution God has used me to build can also do great things themselves if they can focus on the gift that God has given to them. Somebody should tell them that I do not want to be them and no matter how much they try, they cannot be me.

When I say that I drive on a full tank of faith, what I mean is that I have full confidence that if what I am doing is to the glory of God and the good of his children, I cannot fail. As my tank is filled with faith, so are my tires filled with love and no obstacle or bump can stop me.

I have heard some people say that I am arrogant… No sir! What they consider arrogance is confidence. I am not so stupid that I do not understand that the wisdom and strength that I deploy does not belong to me but to the Almighty. How can I be arrogant when I know that the Almighty can take my life the very next minute if it pleases Him? I am not arrogant… I have faith and I am happy!

I know that hatred is a virus. It permeates your engine and destroys your crankshaft. It makes you sick and unhappy all the time and gradually, you wither away. I refuse to work with hatred but with love. That is why those who fight me with falsehood always fall yakata and will continue to fall yakata. As they fall, they get angrier and repeat the stupidity. It does not matter who they enlist to help them spread their falsehood. Hatred belongs to the devil and those who spread falsehood are partners with the devil.  I deal with love and have asked the Almighty not to let me attack anyone who has not done anything against me.

For some years, I have witnessed some people concoct so much lies about me, repeatedly tell their lies until they even begin to believe their lies. They are still running from pillar to post and need to ask themselves why their coordinated lies have been so ineffective. I am not sure if they have ever wondered why each time they think they have struck me down, the Almighty immediately lifts me up. The answer is simple: love conquers hate. I pray that the Almighty forgives them and that they learn that angst, hate and lies will not get them anywhere.

I hope that they will humble themselves and learn that man is not God and that truth will always triumph over falsehood. That is why I permanently drive on a full thank of faith. I know that with a full tank of faith and my tires pumped with love, I will never want. I will continue to thrive and will never be stranded along the way.

Have a good weekend everyone.

See you next week.