AVRS takes audiovisual rights owners, users, NCC to P'Harcourt for parley

Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun, AVRS chairman

STAKEHOLDERS in filmic and sound and motion pictorial creativity under the auspices of the Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) will meet on Tuesday, September 19, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The forum for copyright owners and users will discourse current issues on the propriety of audiovisual works in Nigeria.

A statement signed by the acting General Manager of  AVRS, Olubukola Adeyemi, disclosed that the stakeholders’ forum, set to hold at Le’Meridien Hotels (Ogeyi Place), GRA Phase II, Port Harcourt, will bring together creators, actors, producers, filmmakers, the hospitality sector, television stations, transport companies, people in video streaming services, OTT platforms, among other key players in the industry in Rivers State and its surrounding states.

The forum will also be attended by officials of the Federal Government agency responsible for copyright regulation, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) among others. 

Chairman of AVRS, Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun, adds that the event “aimed at providing continuous education and enlightenment on the need for commercial and public users of audiovisual works to meet their copyright obligations to AVRS" will address the compliance of users to vital copyright issues that would encourage productivity and return on investment in the audiovisual creativity sector of Nigeria's economy.

The veteran filmmaker who heads AVRS  noted that copyright owners in the film sector deserve apt compensation for their creativity and labour while the entire creative industry needs visible help to boost investments and investors' confidence. 

“The Forum would also provide AVRS the opportunity to initiate functional partnerships with Rivers State Government, hotel unions, broadcast organisations and other relevant stakeholders in Rivers State and neighbouring States in the South-South and South-Eastern parts of the country,” said Ali-Balogun.