By Doyin Olagunju
Nigeria’s trade sector is, undoubtedly, one of the critical sectors that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency must endeavour to pay attention to if it seeks to reposition the country on the path of fiscal prosperity. The World Bank already confirms that trade is an enduring engine of growth that creates jobs, reduces poverty and increases economic opportunity.
Trade in Nigeria is embedded with multiple avenues for growth. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that Nigeria’s total trade stood at ₦12.7 trillion in the second quarter of 2023; total exports was ₦7.02 trillion and total imports was ₦5.73 trillion. This means that Nigeria recorded a trade surplus of ₦1.29 trillion in the second quarter of this year.
Despite the modest trade advantage witnessed in Q2 2023, the overarching nature of Nigeria’s mono-product export base cannot be discountenanced. In the fourth quarter of 2022, crude oil exports made up about ₦4.9 trillion out of the entire ₦6.35 trillion worth of goods that were exported out of the country. Non-oil exports only contributed ₦1.44 trillion or about 22.76 percent of Nigeria’s total exports within the given period.
Indeed, it is all too glaring that a most important area of concern for Nigeria’s Trade and Investment complex, constituted under the newly appointed trade minister, will be to work earnestly towards the redistribution of Nigeria’s export base to make it more conducive for the export of other products to the global economy.
Nevertheless, while the trade ministry firms up plans towards institutionalising Nigeria as an exporter of a variety of commodities, recourse must be made towards the legal system that underpins Nigeria’s export sector. Strong national intellectual property rights, can, for example, attract foreign direct investment to the country and provide the necessary conditions for the transfer of technology critical for trade and investment.
Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights
Little is often mentioned of the importance of sophisticated intellectual property (IP) rights in the conversations around improving Nigeria’s export quota and ultimately diversifying its economy. IP rights are the rights that are related to creations of the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names and images used in commercial engagements.
Clear and concise IP rights are supremely important to the Nigerian economy, not only because they provide Nigerian inventors with the much needed legal protection to keep innovating and creating value for our society, but also because Nigeria is fast proving to be a global hub for innovations across financial technology, multimedia, entertainment and more.
Even though innovation in Nigeria keeps growing in leaps and bounds, the country’s intellectual property laws are proving too lax to keep up with the growth of national ingenuity. In a 2020 report by researchers Andembubto, Apuru and Ezra, it was recorded that Nigeria has the highest case of software piracy, intellectual property theft and other “sharp practices” in the IT industry in Africa. Nigeria’s Nollywood also loses over ₦7.5 billion yearly to illegal duplication, online duplication and online piracy.
To strengthen the IP legal system that underpins Nigeria’s burgeoning innovative scene, the Minister of Trade and Investment can begin by working closely with other supporting Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to develop a comprehensive IP policy that recognizes the importance of innovation to the Nigerian economy by tackling the high level of piracy and counterfeiting in the country and strengthening the IP theft deterrent system through a proper coordination of the efforts of the major IP regulatory bodies like the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Nigerian Trademark Registry.
The Ministry of Trade and Investment can also synergise with the National Assembly towards updating the broad catalogue of Nigerian IP laws that are outdated, archaic qnd out of sync. For instance, the Trade Marks Act (2004) and the Patents and Designs Act (2004) need to be updated to cover for the protection of new developments and innovations within Nigeria’s technological ecosystem.
Conclusion
As of 2021, Nigeria’s value of trade as a percentage of GDP stood at 22.58 percent.
Meanwhile, South Africa, Nigeria’s biggest contemporary on the continent recorded a trade to GDP ratio of 56.22% within the same period. This fact shows that a lot of work still needs to be done by the Nigerian government with regards to incorporating trade into the very fibre of the Nigerian economic fabric.
By carefully upholding and prioritising IP rights as a valuable cornerstone of the economy, Nigeria can widen its export bracket, significantly improve trade surplus and leverage trade as a veritable tool to grow its economy and reduce poverty across the country.
Doyin Olagunju is a legal practitioner and trade fellow at the Ominira Initiative for Economic Advancement. He writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
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