Top Nigerian entrepreneurs in Nigeria are rallying to combat intellectual property theft, counterfeiting, as well as pricacy in Nigeria.
Those entrepreneurs include: Tara Fela-Durotoye, CEO, House of Tara International; Oke Maduewesi of Zaron Cosmetics); Funke Akindele-Bello, founder of Scene One TV; Temitayo Eyitayo, Founder, 24 Apparel; representative of Dr Stella Okoli’s company, Uzo Uzeoke, Executive Director, Emzor Pharmaceuticals and Chude Jideonwo and Managing Partner, RED Media Africa.
Although Nigeria has intellectual properly rights and other laws that aims at prohibiting thefts in all kinds, business owners and entrepreneurs in Nigeria have constantly lamented the impact piracy and other forms of property thefts, especially intellectual property thefts have on their business sustainability.
Some entrepreneurs have also called for a review of many laws that prohibits counterfeiting and intellectual property in Nigeria.
For instance, a research study, Intellectual Property Rights in Nigeria: A Critical Examination of the Activities of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, published in the Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, while it praised Nigerian government’s efforts at fighting intellectual property theft, as well as counterfeiting, recommend that “for Nigeria to enjoy the economic benefits of Intellectual Property Rights, it should update its national copyrights laws in order to implement World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) obligations and create strong enforcement mechanism as required by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).”
It also recommended that: “Tough anti-piracy laws also should be introduced and the government should dedicate its resources to the challenges of Copyright infringement.”
On Friday, February 24, the earlier mentioned entrepreneurs and other stakeholders were hosted to a United We Stand campaign collective to a meeting to create an awareness about the rampant issue of counterfeiting, intellectual property theft and piracy in Nigeria, bring together many people who have dealt with and continue to deal with this issue that not only chips away at their revenue, but also at the purity and integrity of their hard work in creating their products; whether art, literature, music, film, clothing or other consumer goods.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar in her keynote address, commended the organisers of the meeting saying “it is a step in the right direction towards creating awareness among stakeholders, a platform for dialogue, for evolving effective IP framework, for the strengthening, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.”
She stressed on the importance of synergy among regulatory and enforcement agencies of government to curb the menace of intellectual property rights infringement and abuse.
On the part of our Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, she stressed that they “shall continue to provide institutional support to strengthen the capacities of agencies and departments under the Ministry to deliver on their mandates which includes the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.”
Tara Fela-Durotoye, who moderated a panel, explained that she decided not to sit back and watch but speak up against these issues, adding that something must be done to make government do the needful.
Also, Oke Maduewesi, one of the speakers at the meeting, said: “These issues kill brands and the government is campaigning for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) in the country; war against corruption and there is still no strong policy for piracy.
Other speakers include Dr. Vivian Oputa, Medical Director, Derma Care; Obafemi Abaga, Partner and Head of Brand protection, Jackson, Etti & Edu; Babatunde Adenaike, Product Manager, Flour Mills; Obi Asika, CEO Storm 360 and Co-founder of Social Media Week, Lagos; Oke Maduewesi, CEO, Zaron Cosmetics and Okechuku Ofili, Founder, Okada Books.
At the end of the meeting, the campaign collective encouraged Nigerian’s to raise their voice and stand together to raise awareness about counterfeiting, IP theft and piracy. They also called on the Government to take action and create an enabling business environment for businesses to thrive.