The Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein has stressed the need for every University in the country to have an Intellectual Property (IP) Policy so as to maximize their innovative and creative potentials.
Dr. Asein, who made the proposal while formally presenting the revised Model Intellectual Property (IP) Policy to the General Assembly of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) in Abuja said the Model Policy, which was developed by the Commission in collaboration with the CVCNU in 2021 was reissued as part of the Commission’s renewed effort to promote its adoption and implementation. He thanked the immediate past Secretary General of CVCNU for supporting the initiative and working with the Commission to promote the sustainable use and effective management of IP in Nigerian universities.
Dr. Asein also called on tertiary institutions, as centres of learning and research, to introduce their faculties and students to the subject of intellectual property in line with global trends and to make Nigerian universities globally competitive.
He assured the Vice-Chancellors of the Commission’s readiness to help in the development and implementation of their policy.
“The Commission will work with other agencies, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to begin the intellectual property ranking of universities and celebrate those that excel in the respect, generation, use and commercilaisation of IP”, the Director-General assured.
Speaking on the WIPO Distance Learning (DL) courses on IP, the Director-General urged universities to infuse the WIPO DL 101 course, which is available online for free, into the General Studies course to give students basic knowledge of IP and equip them in their respective courses of study.
Receiving the copies on behalf of Nigerian Vice-Chancellors, the Chairman CVCNU, Prof. Lilian Salami (Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin) commended the collaborative efforts of the Commission and AVCNU in developing the Model IP Policy and assured the Director-General of CVCNU’s continued commitment to working with the Commission, particularly in promoting better IP culture in universities.
The Model IP Policy was developed with the help of a team of Nigerian experts and with the support of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).