The Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) says it is determined to use its platform to promote moral values and to eradicate corruption from its ranks.
The body’s newly elected President, Pretty Okafor, made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
He added that part of his mission was to emphasise the general welfare of stakeholders and uplift PMAN from its current crisis stricken state.
“Now we have an elected PMAN president for the first time in 15 years, meaning what we’ve been able to achieve under the 18 months.
“We will need to double it; now we need to run properly, musicians need to drop their royalty, the medical, the pension plan, the life insurance will be in place.
“I got in here with the mindset of work; I have been working, working, so this is like giving me more work to do,’’ he said.
On his new status as the substantive leader of the association, Okafor told NAN that he was overwhelmed.
“I have started work already if you want to know. I am already on tour; I am going around the states where they have issues, trying to resolve them.
“There’s nothing exciting, just that right now the PMAN is organised, we are more focused and we are result-oriented.
“I have done that in Warri, Enugu, Delta and Port Harcourt. And I am doing that presently in Calabar and Abuja,’’ he said.
The president, outlining his plans for the body to tackle the issues besetting it, said: “For the past one year, it’s been crisis, it’s been fight.
“The older generations don’t want to hands off from the union, they still believe in the old tradition, keeping everybody under their umbrella.
“But now we’ve been able to send the right signal, we’ve been able to bring the younger generation back on track.
“The older generation only wants to dominate so that the younger generation who are actually the music makers will have nothing to say in the union.
“And I think that we have been able to successfully scrap that. Now you can see the crop of people that contested, Ruggedman, Zaaky Azi, Sunny Nneji, Felix Duke and a whole lot of the younger people on board.
“And right now the younger generations are the ones coming for meeting. Not like you come into PMAN meeting and you see dreadlock people, everybody smoking weed.
“It doesn’t work anymore; we are now a disciplined musicians union. (NAN)