Intellectual Property, SMEs, and Economic Recovery in Nigeria
1.1 Introduction
Whenever I think about the Mona Lisa painting, I wonder if the painter of the original art — Leonard Da Vinci existed today and has such an amazing piece of artwork copyrighted, the story would have probably been a lot different and better told. Today, many creative minds, like Da Vinci manning small businesses continue to come up with several innovative creations of the mind, including works of art, inventions, and others that are well capable of contributing meaningfully to the economic fortune of the country, but they do not know about, or how to tap into the unmined gold dust available in the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). This essay seeks to lay bare what needs to be done so that these small businesses’ intellectual property can be protected, such that the ripple effects of their protected creations are felt positively and drive the post-COVID19 economy to recovery.
1.2 SMEs and Economic Recovery Post COVID-19 Pandemic
Just like it is the case in most parts of the world, small businesses in Nigeria constitute the growth engine of our economy contributing to its development, job creation, and export amongst others. Studies by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) show that approximately 96 percent of Nigerian businesses are SMEs and 84 percent of those who are employed in the country are domiciled in these small and medium enterprises. Also, in the last five years, this category of business has contributed nearly half (48 percent) of the country’s GDP. It is clear that anything that deals a blow to this sector also seeks to bring the nation’s economy to its knees. At the same time, when this sector performs optimally, the economy rejoices.
It is now well over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and eventually a pandemic. The report cards of various countries due to the impacts of the pandemic are coming out. Nigeria is no exception and in fact, it is one of the hardest-hit countries across the globe. Bloomberg says “unemployment in Africa’s largest economy surged to the second-highest on a global list of countries” it is monitoring. This report comes on the heels of the release of Nigeria’s Labour Force Statistics for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS statistics showed a 6.2 percent increase in the unemployment rate of Q2 2020. Sadly, SMEs are the most affected because many of these businesses were not designed to withstand these unforeseen impacts.
1.3 SMEs and Intellectual Property in Nigeria — The Big Issues
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines Intellectual Property (IP) as “creations of the mind — everything from works of art to inventions, computer programs to trademarks and other commercial signs”.8 This means that if things were rightly constituted, a cocoa farmer in Ijugbere town in Ondo state should enjoy a type of IP called ‘Geographical Indication’ (GI) because his products “have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”. Asides from the advantage that comes from the fact that Nigeria ranks amongst the top four producers of cocoa in the world, cocoa exported from Nigeria is well known for its premium quality — renowned for its aromatic and smoother flavor. But the question is: does the Ijugbere farmer know what intellectual property is? Ignorance or limited knowledge of IP amongst small businesses is a big challenge.
Different types of IP exist but they are often broadly divided into two categories namely Industrial Property (which includes patents for inventions, industrial designs, trademarks, and geographical indications) and Copyright and related rights (including literary, artistic and scientific works, performances and broadcasts).
Another major issue affecting SMEs’ chances of benefiting from IPRs in Nigeria is the lack of adequate IP policies; a weak legal framework that cannot adequately protect and enforce the rights of today’s businesses. In a paper co-authored by Femi Olubanwo and Oluwatoba Oguntuase in 2019, they reflected that “most of Nigeria’s IP laws are old and out of sync with the trends in the 21st Century global market place”. They wrote that, “the Trade Marks Act was enacted in 1967 (and even then, was a re-enactment of the UK’s 1938 Trade Marks Act) while the Patents and Designs Act was in 1971.”
Today, apart from treaties facilitated by WIPO that have been ratified by Nigeria, which incorporates the country into specific international IP regimes, there are currently about five extant laws that seek to protect intellectual property in Nigeria. These include the Copyright Act, Patents and Designs Act, Trade Marks Act, Merchandise Marks Act, and the Trade Malpractices (Miscellaneous Offences) Act. While these laws are doing some bits in protecting IP rights, there are a lot more that is yet to be done. As posited by Olubanwo and Oguntuase, “the current laws fail to contemplate, and therefore do not provide means for protecting new developments and innovations in industrial property”.
Leading the implementation and enforcement of IP in Nigeria is the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and efforts by this agency so far have been commendable. Other agencies that are equally empowered by some of the IP-related Acts stated above are either redundant or crippled by lack of the necessary resources to function. It is quite unfathomable that as things currently stand, the Trademarks, Patents and Designs Registry still operates a manual record system. Not just this, the information on the agency’s website (http://www.iponigeria.com/) is not up-to-date; the “latest news” on the website is dated July 9, 2012.
1.4 Fixing the Intellectual Property Gaps for SMEs
Intensive awareness and campaign educating small business owners on IP and emphasizing the many benefits that the IP system affords will be helpful. They should know benefits like the protection of innovative products and services, increasing the visibility, attractiveness and value of products on the market, distinguishing individual business and its products from the competition, access to technical and business information and knowledge, and also very important — avoiding the risk of unknowingly using third party proprietary content or inadvertently losing your valuable information, innovations or creative output.
The decision by the NCC to appoint the winners of last year’s WIPO National IP Essay Competition as Copyright Ambassadors is an insightful development. These ambassadors can lead campaigns that take the IP gospel to schools, startup incubation hubs, markets and other places where SMEs are concentrated.
On outdated laws, newer and effective laws that are in tune with the IP demands of this time need to be promulgated. We can take a cue from economies like America that have built empires of small businesses through well-structured IP systems and laws. Not just this, agencies that are saddled with the duty of protecting IP rights need to be strengthened and well-funded by the government so that they can perform in competent capacities. These agencies also have to work in synergy to achieve the common goal in real-time. It is also high time that the National Assembly passed the Industrial Property Commission Bill (IPCOM Bill) and the Trademarks Bill that have been before it for some time. Enacting these bills can be the game changer in the IP quest in Nigeria.
We cannot afford to lay low on investment in a competent IP architecture in Nigeria because it has proven to be capable of influencing investment; IP can attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and provide the necessary conditions for the transfer of technology.
1.5 Conclusion
President Joseph Biden said, “Inventions born in the garages of small towns can have just as much impact as those developed in high-tech labs”. He is very right. There is no better time to look at the doings happening in the ‘garages of small towns’ and the ‘hostels of our schools’, take them seriously and help these inventors protect their intellectual property. When SMEs thrive and become successful, they will not only grow to become impactful businesses, the impact of these businesses will be felt in the country’s economy at large. This is surely a potent dose of the drug that our economy needs to heal from the scourge of COVID19.
This essay was originally submitted as an entry for the 2021 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) National IP Essay Competition. Author of essay emerged a finalist for the contest.
