NCC develops model to advance students’ knowledge on intellectual property

Dr John Asein, the Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission, says the commission in collaboration with relevant institutions has developed a model for universities’ students to advance their knowledge on Intellectual Property (IP).

Asein said this in an interview on the sidelines of the 2024 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Essay Competition finalists’ visit to the NCC D-G in Abuja.

NAN reports that 20 finalists, led by
the Director of WIPO Nigeria Office, Mr Oluwatobiloba Moody, paid a visit to the NCC D-G in Abuja.

The NCC boss said, “We developed the policy in 2022, working with the Committee of Vice chancellors, National Universities Commission, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) and other relevant agencies that supported the process.

“Now, the policy was validated, so it is already running. And as part of our programme of work for this year, we want to intensify the dissemination, that is why we are bringing up again by repackaging it.

“We are going to be formally handling over the copies as reprinted to vice chancellors at the end of this month.

“And what we do from there is to work with the Committee of Vice Chancellors and National Universities Commission to push these copies to each university, to get them to begin to adopt and implement.”

According to him, the commission will also find a way of identifying and ranking those universities that have intellectual property compliance.

“As you know NOTAP is doing a lot with universities and we think working together, we can draw attention to those universities that are using IP the way it should be, those universities that are growing IP.

“So, based on their IP culture, usage and production, we can also rank universities. Apart from the global ranking and other rankings, we can have IP ranking of Nigeria’s universities.

“One of the things we want to see as measuring as it is, is the presence of well informed IP policy. We hope that that will help us to get more universities to adopt and use the IP policy,” NCC boss said.

According to him, the commission is working assiduously to get universities to bring in some IP knowledge for every student that goes through their system.

“One of the ways we can do that is to introduce WIPO Distance Learning Programme (DL101). So, DL101 is a simplified IP basic, it is a programme that we can introduce to universities and their students across faculties to attend it.

“We will ensure that they use it as a foundation for growing their knowledge and how they can use IP to improve or leverage on their various disciplines.

“So, wether you are in sciences or arts, your knowledge on IP will help you either in your creative endeavour or in your innovation drive.

“We think that will help us to get more students to use IP and again, some of them will find space to go beyond DL101which is the basic.”

The D-G restated the Commission’s commitment to supporting students who want to go further through partnership with WIPO Nigeria, to help in securing scholarships for them to advance their knowledge on intellectual property.

He also said that the new Nigerian Copyright Act has helped the creative industry to address online piracy.

“One of the things that the industry had suffered most from was online piracy. One of the things that gave the industry concern was the low punishment which was not enough for deterrent.

“One of the things that worried the industry was the power of the Commission to do certain things as an enforcement agency.

“For instance, before now when we go for enforcement, we don’t have the statutory power to seal the premises but now we can boldly enter a premises and seal because of copyright infringement we find there.

“And that has become a very good deterrent for being pirate. Now, we can investigate online, we can work with other agencies to take down material and block website. That was possible under the old law.”

He said with the migration of copyright works from the analogue, physical space to digital, the commission was able to police the digital space and take preemptive measures to bring down works that threaten right owners online.

“So, that has really helped us. And the fact that when the right owners see all these, that gives them the boldness to challenge the pirate.

Earlier, Moody said that the visit was to introduce the 2024 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Essay Competition finalists’ to the management and staff of the NCC who are key players in the promotion of intellectual property

“The essay competition was organised by WIPO Nigeria was to inform the policymakers because of some issues around how can we make IP better in Nigeria. The key thing is to bring those ideas back to those policymakers who need to help them.”