Why Nigeria is not tapping $73tr intellectual property revenue – WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has explained has been unable to tap into the $73 trillion revenue in the global intellectual property space.

The Director of WIPO Nigeria, Olwatobiloba Moody, who addressed journalists at the Intellectual Property Programme on Wednesday in Abuja, identified Nigeria’s inability to tap into wealth available in the intellectual property such as the value of patents, and copyrights as the reason the country has failed on the global stage.

Moody noted that Nigeria was losing financially because of its inability to capture intellectual property, hence the need to train youths, especially corps members, to help boost the country’s economy.

He said: “Nigeria is losing because there is a huge creation of wealth in the space of intangible assets which the country is not fully tapping into. This is because we are not capturing this wealth through intellectual property such as the value of patents, copyrights, etc.

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“The value of intellectual property is constantly on the rise. Globally in 2021, the estimated value of intangible assets was $73tr and, I do not think we are capturing one per cent yet we are contributing majorly to the trillions and we are losing a lot of money.

“We are happy to be able to pilot this programme with corps members. As an organization, we are very keen to work with young people and we design different programmes to target various sectors in the society in building awareness and capacity in intellectual property.”

The National Coordinator of the pilot programme, IP Skills, Acquisition, Learning, And Youth Entrepreneurship, Obichi Obiajunwa, said about 50 corps members in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be trained within three to four months in IP to enable them to identify challenges and create innovations using technological solutions.

He said: “The corps members are the participants in this programme. About 50 of them would be trained between three and four months. We are going to get them exposed to the environment where they have been posted to enable them to create innovations to tackle challenges using technological solutions.

“At the end of the programme, it is hoped that they will create start-ups, businesses, and innovation-driven enterprises.

“We will be engaging stakeholders and bringing in investors to make this work. The NYSC members would be exposed to investors following their creation of technologies. We will guide and mentor them through this process.”

By: Babajide Okeowo

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