In recent years, Nigeria’s creative industry has surged in global relevance — from Afrobeat's dominance on global charts to Nollywood’s growing influence in international film markets. Yet beneath this cultural boom lies a disturbing and deliberate silence: the strategic erasure of the Performing Musicians Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN), the only trade union body duly recognized and registered under the Trade Union Act and affiliated with the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The Political & Legal Vacuum: A COSON-Centric Focus

At the 2025 COSON Lecture, themed “The Political & Legal Environment For The Continued Growth Of The Nigerian Creative Industry,” hosted at the COSON House Arena in Lagos, legal luminary Babatunde Ogala SAN delivered a masterful and applauded presentation. The discussion explored copyright laws, regulatory environments, and the need for structural frameworks.

 

Distinguished discussants included Prof. Duro Oni, Dr. Shaibu Hussein of the National Film & Video Censors Board, and political figures such as Hon. Jese Okey Joe Onuakalusi and Barr. Hannatu Musa Musawa, Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy.

Yet conspicuously missing from this celebrated discourse was any mention of PMAN — the only officially recognized trade union of Nigeria’s creative workforce.

 

 

COSON, led by its current Chairman Chief Tony Okoroji — himself a former President of PMAN — has become the face of collective copyright management in Nigeria. But its prominence appears to have coincided with the quiet marginalization of PMAN, which was originally formed to serve as the trade union for all performing creatives, from musicians to directors, writers to soundtrack producers.

 

PMAN: The Forgotten Pillar of Nigeria’s Creative Labour

Formed in 1984 and recognized under Decree No. 22 of 1978, PMAN was established to protect and promote the welfare and economic rights of musicians and allied professionals. It serves songwriters, performers, composers, directors, soundtrack creators, scriptwriters, runway models, and copyright lawyers — yet is now rarely mentioned in national policy discourse.

Chief Tony Okoroji’s post-tenure creation of COSON — while beneficial in its focus on copyright collection — signaled a shift in industry governance that has largely bypassed the trade union apparatus of PMAN. Its devaluation appears neither coincidental nor merely administrative; it seems deliberate.

 

Intellectual Property: Nigeria’s Untapped Goldmine

Over 90% of Nigerian creative works are not properly bancoded or digitally encoded. This means they cannot be tracked, monetized, or protected under international IP protocols. Without this:

• Artists lose billions in unpaid royalties
• Nigeria loses significant export revenue
• Creative works can’t be collateralized for funding
• No measurable industry data can be collected

 

If PMAN were operational and empowered, it could fill this vacuum — not just as an advocate but as a regulator, watchdog, and education platform for creatives navigating the rapidly evolving IP landscape.

 

Without bankable IP assets, creatives cannot earn royalties, leverage their works for credit, or track distribution. This undermines individual wealth creation and robs the government of billions in untaxed income and export revenue annually.

 

Imagine the economic ripple if PMAN were empowered to serve as a trade union regulator: standardizing contracts, enforcing royalty tracking, ensuring health and pension benefits, mediating disputes, and training future industry professionals.

 

Instead, the absence of trade union protection has left many Nigerian creatives vulnerable to exploitation, piracy, and poverty.

 

The Real Ministry: Trade and Investment

While the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Tourism plays a symbolic and policy role, the economic regulation of the creative sector rightly belongs under the Ministry of Trade and Investment. Creative products are exportable assets. This industry isn’t mere entertainment — it is:

• A service sector
• A foreign exchange earner
• A GDP contributor
• A job creation mechanism

 

Their creators are service providers. The industry is not a charitable or entertainment hobby — it is a GDP engine that should be tied to national economic planning, trade agreements, and employment law.

 

It is time for a multi-ministerial strategy — one that includes:

• The Ministry of Trade and Investment
• The Ministry of Labour and Employment
• The Ministry of Justice (for IP law enforcement)
• The Ministry of Education (for vocational development in the arts)
• The Ministry of Finance (for IP-based taxation and funding)

 

The Path Forward: Recognize and Reposition PMAN

PMAN’s erasure is not just institutional negligence — it is economic sabotage.

If Nigeria is serious about protecting its creatives, scaling the entertainment industry, and diversifying its economy, then PMAN must be reinstated to the frontlines of discourse and policy. It must be funded, consulted, and included in legislative hearings and national creative economy frameworks.

 

Allowing COSON or any single CMO to dominate the creative conversation without PMAN invites unchecked gatekeeping. Only a balanced ecosystem — where trade unions, CMOs, and government collaborate — can ensure fair compensation, labor equity, and sustainable growth.

PMAN must be brought back to the table.

 

The COSON Lecture platform must evolve into an inclusive think tank where CMOs, trade unions, and legal experts align their focus toward a unified creative economy. Copyright laws alone will not save the Nigerian artist.

 

Only systemic support, trade union representation, and enforceable rights will.

 

The Time Is Now

Neglecting PMAN is a strategic error that weakens the foundation of Nigeria’s creative future. If the country is to lead the world in culture and innovation, it must empower the institutions that protect and promote its creators. To ignore PMAN is to undermine decades of struggle by artists for unionization, legitimacy, and equity.

 

As the global demand for Nigerian content rises, Nigeria must choose whether to build a resilient, lawful, and export-ready creative economy — or to continue burying its most vital engine of soft power under bureaucracy, politics, and silence.

 

Nigeria’s intellectual property is national prosperity. The creatives deserve more than applause — they deserve protection, structure, and ownership.

PMAN must be restored, respected, and repositioned.

 

Let’s stop the erasure. Let’s start the restoration.