Nobody Delisted COSON, We Are Still In Operation – Bernice Ashibuogwu

Mrs. Bernice Eriemeghe-Ashibuogwu, the General Manager and CEO of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, has issued a Public Notice refuting the claim by some persons she described as ‘funny individuals’ that COSON has been struck out of the Register of Companies and no longer exists as a corporate organization.

In the notice, Mrs. Eriemeghe Ashibuogwu said, “it has come to the notice of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, that some funny individuals have set out to spread the insidious and blatantly false propaganda that COSON has been struck out of the Register of Companies and no longer exists as a corporate organization.

“Anyone, anywhere with a smartphone or a computer can in the comfort of his home or office confirm right now the veracity or otherwise of this shameful propaganda, by logging on to www.cac.gov.ng, the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), where every registered company operating in Nigeria is listed”.

Continuing, the General Manager said that the result will be crystal clear that Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte (COSON) continues to be a full-fledged corporate citizen operating in Nigeria and listed in the Register of Companies.

According to Eriemeghe-Ashibuogwu, the result will further show that Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte (COSON) is listed as “active”, the topmost status in the Register of Companies, which is unquestionable proof that COSON remains a responsible, transparent, and accountable organization that has consistently filed its audited accounts and annual returns to the CAC as required by law, a level of corporate compliance which says few companies in Nigeria maintain and which no other organization in the Nigerian creative industry, can claim.

The renowned accountant revealed that as part of a diabolical effort to cripple and strangulate COSON, which she insists is a solid and internationally respected Nigerian organization, a perverse judgment was obtained from court to delist COSON from the Register of Companies. According to her, the game plan is to use the Nigerian way to kill COSON which protects the rights of thousands of owners of copyright in music across Nigeria, so that an unsavory special purpose vehicle to fleece major organizations operating in Nigeria of billions of Naira in the name of “music copyright royalties” can thrive.

The COSON CEO said “Let it be known that the said judgment in Suit No FHC/L/CS/274/2010 was immediately, solidly and comprehensively appealed in Appeal No: CA/LAG/CV/778/2020”.

She revealed further that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has state emphatically by their letter dated 9th July 2020 that the CAC would not delist Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte (COSON) from the Register of Companies as a result of the appeal reiterating that anyone who has followed the trajectory of COSON will know that COSON does not appeal in vain.

Mrs. Eriemeghe-Ashibuogwu in the notice, “at COSON, we continue to be very proud of the role we play every day to uplift the Nigerian creative industry and defend the rights of our members and affiliates across the world”.