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…As WIPO DG sets to commission Abuja office June 1
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has said Nigeria is committed to the protection of intellectual property.
This is even as the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Daren Tang, is billed to commence a three-day working visit to Nigeria beginning from June 1.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu spoke when she received in audience, the Director of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Nigeria Office, Mr Oluwatobilola Moody in Abuja.
The media aide to the minister, Magnus Eze, in a statement issued in Abuja, said Moody and his team were in Abuja to brief the minister on the activities of the United Nations agency, including the forthcoming visit of its director-general.
WIPO creates services that enable creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to protect and promote their Intellectual Property (IP) across borders and acts as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues.
Nigeria hosts the first and only WIPO Office in Sub-Saharan Africa, serving as a model and a resource for the broader region, and enjoys WIPO’s support in modernizing its IP administration systems, particularly in the digitalization of trademarks and patents registry using the Industrial Property Automation System (IPAS).
The IPAS is central to reducing timelines and improving transparency.
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Odumegwu-Ojukwu noted that WIPO served the world’s innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas travel safely to the market and improve lives everywhere.
The Minister also said as a result of its functions, WIPO needed all the sensitisation for Nigerians to know what it means and does.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu further said the country’s soft power in the creative industry should benefit maximally from the siting of the Agency’s office in Nigeria.
The Minister said: “You talked about Nigeria’s soft power in the creative industry; I expect that hosting the office here in Abuja, it means that there should be a whole lot of openings for young Nigerians.”
While calling for technical assistance programme in the WIPO Nigeria Office to build capacity, Odumegwu-Ojukwu also called for commercialising cultural heritage for economic gains.
Speaking earlier, Moody said the visiting WIPO chief would among other activities, officially inaugurate the Agency’s Office in Abuja.
He noted that WIPO recently shifted focus toward a more inclusive approach, making intellectual property (IP) more accessible to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), youth, and women.
The WIPO Director explained that the priority of the current leadership of WIPO is adapting the IP system to emerging technologies like Generative AI and ensuring it supports human creativity.
Moody assured that Nigerian creatives and innovators would continue to benefit from the programmes of the organisation.
