By John Austin Unachukwu
The Director-General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim, has said that NOTAP’s partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), has added value to Nigerian economy.
He said it changed the country’s research concepts from mere academic, career progress requirements to market driven research that has boosted industrial development.
Dr. Ibrahim, who spoke in Abuja, said the technological development of every nation depends largely on the degree and effectiveness of research capabilities inherent in the institutions,
According to him, institutions with weak Intellectual Property Protection culture can hardly stimulate technological development of their nations.
The DG encouraged researchers to patent their research results before publishing, because unpatented published research findings in the public domain could be used or exploited by anyone without acknowledging the researcher.
He expressed displeasure at the level of foreign technology consumption in the country and said no nation develops with the level of over reliance on the consumption of foreign technology as is the case with Nigeria.
He disclosed that from the registration and monitoring of technology transfer agreements carried out by NOTAP, it was realised that about 90 percent of our financial and communication institutions are powered by foreign software.
Dr. Ibrahim therefore challenged Nigerian researchers in the tertiary Institutions where NOTAP had established Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTO) to utilise the opportunity provided by the Office.
Also speaking with The Nation, Ministe of State for Science and Technology, Mr. Mohammed Abdullahi backed Ibrahim’s views:
Abdullahi said: “The first thing is to ensure that whoever develops an intellectual material should approach the appropriate authorities to ensure that such material is registered through the trademark office in the ministry of commerce and then liaise with NOTAP to ensure his franchise is also given the appropriate legal protection.
“The mistake we make is that we are too eager to announce our research findings to the public, once a research finding is already in public domain,. It is always difficult to protect it. I think that the first thing to do in such situation is to ensure that those findings are restricted to the process of protection so that we maximize the benefits of such intellectual property once it is registered othrerwise you end up creating a property that is laced with so much intellectual flavor but end up not getting the value for it because of our attitude of impatience.
On the role of lawyers in the process, Mohammed stated : “ I think that lawyers will also be engaged to focus towards protecting our intellectual property, it is very important. You noticed that NOTAP is also collaborating with the Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) to protect the Intellectual property of Nigerian researchers even when such creativity is in the public domain, they can collaborate the international arm to ensure that minimal damage is done to such creative works so that their creators can get benefits from the contents they created. Essentially we encourage NOTAP to do that, to provide useful services to Nigerians within their ambit of their laws” Mohammed stated
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