From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Director, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Nigeria, Mr. Olwatobiloba Moody, has said Nigeria is losing financially as far as intellectual property is concerned.
Moody disclosed that the development was as a result of Nigeria’s inability to capture intellectual property.
Moody who stated this during an intellectual property programme held in conjunction with the National Youth Service Corps in Abuja, further disclosed that Nigeria is yet to tap into over $73tr intellectual wealth around the globe.
The programme, a pilot scheme aimed at empowering the youth, is geared towards the continuous economic development through intellectual property.
Moody said: “Nigeria is losing because there is a huge creation of wealth in the space of intangible assets which the country is not fully tapping into. This is because we are not capturing this wealth through intellectual property such as the value of patents, copyrights etc.
“The value of intellectual property is constantly on the rise. Globally in 2021, the estimated value of intangible assets was worth $73 trillion dollars and, I do not think we are capturing one percent, yet we are contributing majorly to the trillions and we are losing a lot of money.”
Moody who further said WIPO’s new initiative was to redirect the focus from the usual norm of given talks or train corp members on trade, also explained that the essence of the programme was to enable the youth contribute to the development of the communities where they found themselves.
“We are happy to be able to pilot this programme with corps members. As an organization, we are very keen to work with young people and we design different programmes to target various sectors in the society in building awareness and capacity in intellectual property,” Moody also said.
Also speaking, an Innovation Consultant and National Coordinator of the Pilot Programme on Intellectual Property Skills Acquisition, Learning, And Youth Entrepreneurship, Obichi Obiajunwa, said not less than 50 corps members in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were chosen for the three to four months intellectual property training programme.
Obiajunwa explained that the aim was to enable the youths identify challenges and create innovations, using technological solutions.
Obiajunwa said: “The corps members are the participants in this programme. About 50 of them would be trained between three and four months. We are going to get them exposed to the environment where they have been posted to enable them to create innovations to tackle challenges using technological solutions.
“At the end of the programme, it is hoped that they will create start-ups, businesses, and innovation-driven enterprises.
“We will be engaging stakeholders and bringing in investors to make this work. The NYSC members would be exposed to investors following their creation of technologies. We will guide and mentor them through this process.
“For the pilot phase, we are rooting it to corps members in Abuja and by next year, we will scale it up to other states.”