The Reform of Nigerian Intellectual Property Law in Perspective

Abstract

As Africa’s most populous nation and its largest economy, Nigeria occupies a strategic position in the Continental architecture of human capital. As the powerhouse of Africa’s creative and entertainment industries and better than half of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) subregional economic bloc, Nigeria is arguably the hub of the Continent’s pool of creativity and innovation in search of a dynamic intellectual property (IP) system to deliver on national developmental aspirations. Given that the IP system rests eminently at the commanding heights of the new global order, intellectual property right (IPR) protection has assumed greater prominence at the international and national levels. The fundamental role of IP in harnessing creative and innovative enterprises has never been more significant than today. In the words of Michael A. Gollin (Driving Innovation: Intellectual Property Strategies for a Dymanic Word, Cambridge University Press 2008, p. 1) IP is the invisible infrastructure of innovation and a source of hidden wealth worth trillions of dollars. With the crises of access around the increasing intersectionality of IP and access to knowledge, and the spirited pursuit of global development policies, IP has become intensely existential to humanity and the flourishing of society. In the areas of health, education, agriculture, traditional knowledge, climate-crisis innovation including frontier technologies and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, these normative debates present an enduring test of the strength of IP institutions in meeting the challenges of public welfare, especially for indigenous societies who have been caught up in the systemic imbalance in the global IP regime complex.