The Director General, Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr
Adebambo Adewopo, has called on the federal government to integrate
intellectual property into the country�s economic reform agenda.
�No matter whatever gains we have achieved in other areas
of the economy through NEEDS, if we don�t integrate intellectual property we
stand to gain nothing at the end of the day,�� Adewopo said at a News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum at the weekend in Abuja.
He said that issues concerning intellectual property
protection should be properly handled to block the current leakages in the
nation�s economy.
He noted that such leakages had hindered the nation from
achieving rapid economic growth and development.
�What will be the achievement of government at the end of
the day in all its monumental economic reforms programmes if everything it
worked for is lost because intellectual property was not given the desired
attention,�� he said.
He said that intellectual property protection of foreign
investment should be accorded priority attention if major players in the
global economy were to be attracted by the current reforms.
�We have major players in the global economy wanting to
invest in Nigeria and the significance resources of the investment is
intellectual property,�� he said.
He urged government to initiate processes that would
assure and guarantee foreign investors the protection of intellectual
property, stressing that such moves would open the flood gate to the needed
investment that would turn around the country�s economy.
He also said that the commission was embarking on a legal
reform of the nation�s copyright laws in the area of piracy and intellectual
property.
�There is no doubt that the present law does not
adequately address the full weight and implication of
piracy in Nigeria,�� he said.
He said that pirates were capitalising on the weakness of
the present laws which allowed for few months imprisonment and fine of
insignificant amount to cause destruction to the economy.
�What we need to do is to add few more months to the jail term and a
little more thousands of naira to the fine as in the cases of armed robbery
and theft to serve as a strong deterrent to the pirates,�� he said.
