IN response to the recent outcry against movie piracy, the Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) has intensified efforts at sensitising various stakeholders on the workings of the Collective Management Organisation (CMO) for the audio-visual sector. In line with that, it has flagged off its awareness campaign of the South-South region from Asaba, Delta State.
Addressing a forum at the Orchid Hotel, Asaba on Tuesday, April 21, the Chairman of AVRS, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, traced the long and painstaking process of the formation of AVRS, and the activities leading to its approval on November 20, 2014 by the Nigerian Copyright Commission.
The Delta State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Richard Mofe Damijo, who graced the event, expressed happiness that despite the initial delay in registration and approval, AVRS had finally commenced operations. He described the society as “an idea whose time has come, and the beginning of a new journey towards a greater tomorrow in the audio-visual industry.”
The Benin Forum of Thursday, April 23, at Prestige Hotel took a similar pattern. The interactive sessions at both meetings provided stakeholders with the opportunity to express their support for the society, voice their concerns, and seek clarification from the directors on all grey areas.
Chief Peddy Okao, a director of AVRS, coordinated the Benin Forum, and enjoined every stakeholder present to take advantage of, and see the establishment of AVRS as an additional revenue stream. He opined that AVRS will use every means at its disposal to collect, and distribute to its members, all revenue that had been hitherto inaccessible to right owners.