Nigeria is a country with talented persons, our creativity have spanned across various fields which includes architecture, engineering, science, law, music, medicine, finance; just to mention a few. Often times, the ingenuity of persons who have excelled in these various fields are violated in form of piracy and other forms of illegal duplication or use. All over the streets, we find pirates making profits in broad daylight out of the work of someone else, we find people purchasing books that have been illegally published while the real people who made the real effort are unaware and short-changed. It is therefore important to have a legal framework and an authority to protect the rights of intellectual, this is the major reason why it is important for Nigeria to establish the ‘Nigeria Intellectual Property Organisation (NIPO)’.
Problem: Piracy and other related offences is a serious problem short-changing established intellectuals and discouraging the ingenuity of young ones.
Beneficiary: The Government; Intellectual Property Lawyers; Artistes, Writers and other intellectuals.
Proposed by: Bolu’ Michael-Biyi
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Sponsoring a legislative bill to establish the Nigeria Intellectual Property Organisation (NIPO). The bill would highlight who an offender is and also accord punishments to various degrees of offences. NIPO will be officially affiliated with the ‘World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)’ in Geneva, Switzerland. The headquarters of NIPO would be in FCT Abuja with a sub-commission in the 6 geo-political zones of the country. NIPO would be empowered to protect intellectual property via public campaigns, enforcement and other methods as deemed fit.
Full impact potential: It is expected that the establishment of NIPO will reduce piracy by at least 50% in its first year of operation. The legal framework in place and human resources available would serve as a major deterrent for pirates and potential pirates.
Funding: NIPO would be funded by the government according to the existing parastatal procedures.
Marketplace: Governance
Written by: Bolu’ Michael-Biyi (Public Affairs Analyst)
