Intellectual Property And Nigerian Economy
The 21st century economy is undoubtedly knowledge-based. It is largely driven by a rich mental resource as against the 20th century economy, which was mainly driven by assets, like land, mineral resources and so on. It has been described as ‘’information technology age’’.
It boils down to the fact that the 21st century is an age where information is the basic capital rather than natural resources of the nations, where human resources to a large extent becomes the basis for rapid economic development and growth.
Information, properly harnessed from Intellectual property, is a vital trigger of economic growth but unfortunately, intellectual property is one of the most abused economic resources, especially in Nigeria.
The absence of quality intellectual property laws has been detrimental to the economic well-being of those whose economic mainstay is their intellectual property.
Banwo and Igahadolo while assessing copy rights in Nigeria noted that “The Nigerian tradition that favours communal ownership and encourages the spirit of camaraderie and free sharing was at variance with the individualistic and proprietary nature of the modern concepts of copyright. In the eyes of the ordinary person, the laws did not exist.
‘’At a time when oil, the nation’s principal source of foreign exchange earnings, is facing a precarious future (dwindling volume of production resulting from decaying and vandalized infrastructure; plummeting international prices and; competing, more efficient, alternative energy sources), the time to transform the nation from a traditional commodity-based and import -driven economy, to a knowledge economy exporting expertise, talents, value added products and tech savvy inventions is ripe. This accounts for the current national agitation for a developed and self-reliant economy, buoyed by diversification.’’
The existence of regulatory agencies like, Nigerian Copyright Commission, Ministry of Information, National Communications Commission, NAFDAC, among others, have not made meaningful impact on the status of copyrights in Nigeria.
Failures of government and other stakeholders to adequately protect the creative industry in Nigeria have resulted in investors losing billions of naira. The book, music and film industries are the worst hit in this scenario.
There are reported cases of how much pains poor legislation and enforcements on intellectual property rights have inflicted on stakeholders. One of such cases is that of the late Moses Adejuwon Olaiya popularly known as “Baba Salla” in the Yoruba movie Industry. The veteran actor suffered stroke and eventually died because of 'wicked' piracy of his work ‘Mosebolatan’, produced in celluloid mode of film.
The late actor was said to have lost millions of naira borrowed from the bank. His case became so miserable after he allegedly sold virtually all his property to pay back the bank loan.
Recently Henry Knight, a Nigerian music artist, via Instagram posted a message saying ''Every day in the Nigeria music industry, most of the biggest artistes who never for once helped you even when you reach out to them in time of need tend to get away with ripping you off and making profit out of your property.”
Dr Samuel Andrews, Nigerian-American trained intellectual property expert, from Suffolk University, Boston Law School, who was recently honoured in Abuja, at a reception organized by colleagues and industry stakeholders, stated that Nigerian entertainment industry offers great investment opportunities that can transform the economy, but the opportunities could not be adequately explored because of the weak copyright laws which discourage investors.
In his words, “Nigeria suffers from legal lack, and that is a big problem because our laws are not up –to- date to confront the realities of digital economy. The laws do not protect the creators enough as most of the copyright infringements are done on the cyberspace. Our copyright laws are not up-to-date to confront the realities of this digital era’’.