PMAN petitions AGF over alleged hijack of Copy Levy process by RELPI

The Performing Musicians Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN) has formally petitioned the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, warning of what it describes as an “institutional ambush” of Nigeria’s Copyright Levy disbursement framework and an attempted fast-track push to recognise/license the Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative (RELPI) as a Collective Management Organisation (CMO). 

At the heart of PMAN’s allegation signed by its president, Pretty Okafor, is the claim that a stakeholder forum, which was held on February 19, 2026 at the Federal Ministry of Justice—initially meant to advance broader consultations on levy disbursement—was reportedly reclassified as an internal ministry meeting, leading to MCSN’s DG/CEO and PMAN’s President being informed not to attend, only for the meeting to proceed nonetheless.

PMAN alleges the meeting was subsequently re-purposed into an agenda designed to advance RELPI’s interests, including steps consistent with pushing RELPI toward licensing/recognition as a CMO.

PMAN specifically flags conflict-of-interest concerns involving public officials alleged to have significant links to RELPI. The petition states that Obi Asika, identified as Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and publicly associated with Storm 360, was in attendance at the meeting and is alleged to be a member of RELPI.

PMAN also alleges that Prince Baba Clement Agba, identified as Special Assistant to the President on Creative Economy, has a direct relational nexus to RELPI through his spouse, Mrs. Isioma Alexis Idigbe, described in the petition as a Director within RELPI.

PMAN also argues that the presence and influence of these actors in a sensitive, ongoing policy and legal dispute creates a ‘classic conflict situation’ and risks making the government appear to be taking sides.

The petition further highlights that RELPI has already escalated the levy controversy into litigation—Suit No. FHC/L/CS/207/2026: Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative & 11 Ors. v. Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (Re: Central Bank of Nigeria)—which PMAN characterises as an attempt to truncate or redirect the disbursement architecture at a critical early stage.

PMAN warns that any backchannel policy steps that alter the status quo while the matter remains before a court could create “sub judice” complications and deepen instability in the collective management system. 

PMAN’s central fear is that foreign-linked label interests, acting through RELPI, could end up cornering disproportionate influence over funds that—by policy intent—should reach grassroots Nigerian creators and performers nationwide.

In language reminiscent of public outrage around ‘warehouseed’ palliatives during the COVID-19 era, PMAN frames the situation as a potential capture of a public-interest intervention—arguing that the Copy Levy, recently activated under the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, must not be quietly diverted from the very Nigerian musicians it was intended to benefit. 

In its petition, PMAN calls on the AGF to immediately review what transpired at the February  19 meeting (including attendee list, minutes, and any resolutions), to suspend any steps allegedly taken toward RELPI licensing/recognition pending a transparent stakeholder process, and to require officials with direct ties to RELPI—specifically naming Obi Asika and Baba Clement Agba—to recuse themselves from any process connected to levy disbursement architecture or CMO licensing direction.

PMAN also demands an urgent, properly constituted stakeholder meeting involving NCC, approved CMOs, PMAN, and other legitimate bodies, with published agenda and clear record-keeping to avoid institutional breakdown.

PMAN insists it supports the President and the AGF’s progress on the Copy Levy and says its intervention is aimed at preventing insiders and conflicted interests from tainting the administration’s efforts and plunging the music industry back into decades of turmoil and fragmentation in rights administration.

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