Okoroji applauds Sanwo-Olu for suspending LEFVCB boss over 5% levy

 

The chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State for suspending the Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Film & Video Censors Board (LEFVCB), Mr. Dele Balogun, over a 5% unauthorised levy imposed on producers of musical and audio-visual works in the state.

Okoroji said that Sanwo-Olu’s action was commendable, adding that it was not usual for a government in Nigeria to rescind decisions made by their officials even when it was clear that the decisions were blatantly wrong.

“When I heard the announcement, I was aghast. I wondered which law gave this government official the power to impose this unworkable special tax or levy on innocent citizens trying to deploy their creativity to earn a living. This is especially crazy in this season of the coronavirus when the income of many people in the creative industry has been crushed and government should be supporting these citizens.

“It appears to me that the creative industry is now seen as a soft target by all sorts of dubious people and their collaborators in government who flex their muscles and believe that they can control and milk practitioners in the industry for quick money,” Okoroji said.

READ: https://reliablesourceng.com/sanwo-olu-suspends-agency-boss-for-imposing-5-tax-on-movie-channels/

He called for the prosecution of Balogun to serve as deterrent to any other government appointee that might want to tow similar path.

“I have spent a significant part of my career fighting lawlessness and abuse of power. It appears that many officers in our governments believe that upon appointment, they have acquired the powers to arbitrarily make laws and impose their shallow ideas on everyone. On their whims and caprices, they impose conditions that make life difficult for innocent citizens when their real job is to make life easier.

“The suspension is very good but the Executive Secretary has to be tried so that the lesson is learnt that Nigeria is a nation of laws and that no one has unrestricted powers to impose pain on the people,” he advised.