Writers, artists and other hues of content creators will keep holding the short end of the stick unless they actively support and work with the bodies responsible for making them reap the gains from their works.
So, former National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and erstwhile Chairman of Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG), Professor Olu Obafemi, declares.
The organisation was set up towards enabling authors, artists and content creators share in proceeds made from reproduction of their works by consumers and protect them against copyrights infringement.
Professor Obafemi says from his experience when he headed the body, the artists were lackadaisical and showed little or no interest in its activities. Neither did they give it the necessary assistance for it to deliver on its mandate, though they were to be the major beneficiaries.
The literary icon admits that though lack of fund, reluctance of the universities and intellectual communities to buy into the scheme among other factors posed a challenge, nonattendance of meetings and lack of cooperation by affiliate professional bodies were more to blame for the apparent lackluster performance of the society. He, however, disclosed that his successor has begun working on some initiatives he started to reenergise and make the organisation perform. He spoke more on this and other issues. Excerpts:
You once sat as chair over the Nigerian Museums and Monuments. Are you satisfied with their condition then and now?
No, never! When I was the chairman, the first time I went to Lagos, I found out that the artefacts, the objects were scattered all over the place. They were not chemicalised, they were not treated. You know you need to bring them back alive. You lifted them from their homes, their origins, and brought them to this strange land and left them in the cold, to put it mildly. The DG (Director General) then used to say there was no fund. So, the first thing I wanted to do was revive them. They couldn’t even categorise them, they couldn’t name them, they couldn’t do anything. They were there, scattered objects. So, my first point was, how do we get funds? We have museums all over the place. We had one of the best and most fascinating stone materials, stone objects, that you can find anywhere in the world. But they were there for decades. When we did the first budget, whatever capital projects they brought, “We want to build this and that,” I said no, no, no, let us see how to set aside funds to reanimate the objects, where to put them, preserve them. Then, there’s the culture of syndicalist stealing of objects – collaboration with people to steal our objects upon the ones that were even done by the Europeans before we realised they had stolen the objects. How do they know the objects were good? Go to the British Museum, the best objects in the British Museum are objects from Africa. The African Museum itself is priceless. So, I tried to see how we can begin to repatriate them but we did not get adequate support from the government. We went to South Africa and we got some objects returned. Although, because of my other nature, (President Olusegun) Obasanjo didn’t renew my appointment because he thought I was antagonistic to him. I was writing my column and advising him. What I was saying was true, very true. I led ANA (Association of Nigerian Authors) to see him, because we were to honour him. Since he’s a writer, I wanted to make him an honorary member. Obasanjo agreed to see us. I went with Osofisan, you can ask Osofisan, and Odia (Ofeimun) the late cultural ambassador, Baba Segun Olusola. Just before we got to where we were to see him, he sent his Chief of Staff to say, sorry, he couldn’t see us, he had some visitors from Sierra Leone. I was like, are you just knowing this?
You were on appointment?
Yes, Ambassador Olusola was like, ‘how can Segun go do this?’ We wanted to leave but later, the Chief of Staff came out and said that the president said he would see me alone. I said it was not possible. This is not a personal request. This is an association’s request, which he granted. They finally agreed that maybe two or three people can come with me. So, I went with Osofisan and Ambassador Olusola. I was president of ANA then. I thought President Obasanjo was going to come out but the Chief of Staff brought an album where they had cut my columns – infra-red! He said, “Look, you are an appointee of government, and you’re not even in our party but because you are a man of culture. Is this your behaviour cultural? You go and abuse the man who appointed you in public?” I was furious. Ambassador Olusola said again, “How can Segun do this?” That was the end of it. We just left. So, I couldn’t continue with that post. Of course, you have to be conscious, you have to know what you are doing. You have to have a vision to do something.
Given the background of this incident, how do you see writers of conscience taking government appointment? Won’t there be conflict between official expectation of their roles as government appointee and perception of their duty to the society?
Let me tell you this. First of all, I’ve never gotten a government appointment that has a budget. I’ve never been a chief executive. I’ve been chairman of this, chairman of that, not a cabinet secretary or a DG or whatever. So, I don’t know how funds can be used in that respect. I can only supervise but more importantly, any appointment that I take that is going to shut my mouth, it will not work. It has never worked. Look at the last one, this one we took as (FG-ASUU) negotiators. When they started lying against us, I just told Mimi Briggs, look, if we take these insults and lies, then the cause we are fighting for, which is not for us, will be lost. We must debunk them. Luckily, the other people who were not commenting were sympathetic. Briggs said, oh yes, thank you very much, Olu. Go and draft something, and he was on and all over me all night. He was calling, asking, “Have you finished?” I joked that, “Hah, ah, but you were not thinking about it,” and he replied, “Now that I’m thinking of it”. When I then wrote this lecture for ASUU on the ‘Funding of Education’, of course, I didn’t spare any government. I have some sympathy for President Bola Tinubu, but I did not spare him because he took some wrong steps. This business of subsidy removal for instance…he took it without thinking about it, and I believe that he can undo it. Every leader must have enough humility to redress themselves.
You were also in charge of REPRONIG (Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria). But Nigerian writers and content creators will still tell you that they aren’t getting the benefit they should from their labour and talents. Isn’t this a failure on the part of REPRONIG?
I did my best before I left the place. For many years, I was looking for somebody to replace me. People didn’t find it attractive enough. Finally, I was able to last year, and I handed it over to somebody. Intellectual property is one but what are we ourselves doing as writers? It was only in the last four years I was able to engage ANA to take its membership of REPRONIG seriously. Most of the member associations don’t attend meetings; they don’t contribute. We wanted universities to get engaged in buying licences so that all writers or providers of content can benefit from their labour. The universities refused to sign. As I’m speaking, only one university has signed up. Even where I thought I had influence, I went and spoke to them, they didn’t see the need.
The writers themselves don’t seem to be aware. I then said, let us create individual membership so writers can come as members. That is still to take off. And yet, you cannot fight piracy and all of these things if you are not a solid body. If universities buy into it very easily, writers will begin to feel their impact because all writers will be listed in every university. Whatever we collect, the share must go to the writers. That’s simple. Any member can come in as a member, once we can get coffee shops and places to register people. Then, the levy, the duties that come from abroad. Governments were part of the Marrakech Assembly which created a return from governments to the industries, the publishers, and so on. The Nigerian government has not released these funds to the Nigerian Copyright Commission. Those are the challenges. Intellectual property rights are not being defended by the government. There are no reprisals for piracy. The content creators themselves are not supporting the bodies that should make it possible for them to gain from their works.
READ ALSO: Reps issue seven-day ultimatum to Wale Tinubu, Aiteo MD over Nembe oil spill creek
and then