Lagos – Septuagenarian juju music star and Minister of the Gospel, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi was on Saturday, December 15, 2012 surprised with an unexpected Christmas windfall. He was presented with a cheque for more than N3.06 Million as copyright royalties by Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) at the Opebi Headquarters of the organization. The money is the first tranche of Evangelist Obey’s share of the recent N100 Million Naira royalty distribution carried out by COSON.
The elated and very emotional singer with the unique sonorous voice gave thanks to the Almighty for keeping him alive to witness the fruits of the long struggle for the respect of the rights of artistes in Nigeria. He said that for a long time, he was sad that Nigerian artistes could receive royalties for their music used in some other countries but not one kobo for their music used in their own country. He thanked the Board and Management of COSON for working assiduously to finally bring this anomaly to an end. He particularly praised the commitment of the COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji whom he said never give up on the struggle. According to the gentleman fondly called ‘Chief Commander’ by his numerous fans, from what he had seen with the work COSON is doing, there would be many more millions soon for Nigerian artistes from everwhere.
L-R: Evangelist (Dr.) Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, receiving his cheque from the COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji
While presenting the cheque to Evangelist Obey, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji said that ordinarily, the cheque would have been sent to Evangelist Obey quietly as is done in the case of hundreds of others but that the evangelist chose to make it public so that Nigerians can appreciate the work that COSON is doing and young people in the country can be inspired by it. Chief Okoroji said that the royalty paid was from the logs already analysed by the distribution department and that the Evangelist could earn more royalty by the time all the logs are obtained and reviewed. Chief Okoroji also praised Evangelist Obey whom he said had never stopped caring about the future of every artiste in Nigeria despite his tremendous success.
Among the different music industry personalities present during the presentation were Banky W, Azeezat Allen, Efe Omorogbe, CEO of Nowmuzik; Obi Asika, CEO of Storm 360; Audu Maikori, CEO of Chocolate City Music: EME’s Segun Demuren and Hon John Ewelukwa Udegbunam, President, Music Label Owners & Recording Industry Association of Nigeria (MORAN).
source: COSON
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