Nigeria: further steps to help IP owners and creatives realise value locked up in IP

Photo by Nupo Deyon Daniel on Unsplash

The Nigerian Government’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved three key policies aimed at accelerating the West African nation’s transition to a digital and knowledge-based economy.

The three policies, announced last week and reported widely in the Nigerian press, were put forward by Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr. Jumoke Oduwole.

First is the National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy (NIPPS), which is being described as Nigeria’s first unified framework for the protection and commercialisation of Intellectual Property rights. According to Nigerian media reports, “the policy aims to connect innovators, creators, and investors to convert creativity into economic capital and transform ideas into economic assets.”

The second policy is the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Protocol on Digital Trade. This establishes continent-wide standards for e-commerce, data governance, cybersecurity, and consumer protection, ensuring a predictable environment for digital transactions.

The third is the Services Export Mechanism, spearheaded by the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP). This mechanism is intended to intensify Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global services sector.

The Nigerian government has been creating a more friendly environment for IP and intangible assets creators and owners for the past couple of years.

In October 2024, it established the Creative Economy Development Fund (CEDF) and rolled out an Intellectual Property (IP) Monetisation Pilot, a significant development for the country’s SMEs.

Various Nigerian ministries and agencies, including the Ministries of Justice, Finance, Industry, Trade and Investment, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Copyright Commission were working together to oversee both the setting up of the CEDF and the implementation of the IP Monetisation pilot.

At the time, Minister of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa said that the CEDF would “develop a transformative model for the securitisation and collateralisation of IP assets, enabling Nigerian creatives to leverage their IP as viable assets for securing financing. The CEDF aims to democratise access to finance by lowering access barriers and offering innovative solutions not reliant on traditional collateral.”

A Nigerian Government statement regarding the latest developments said: “These three reforms mark a bold new chapter in Nigeria’s economic transformation, where ideas, data, and talent become the engines of growth, industrialisation, and sustainable prosperity.”

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) supported the Nigerian Government throughout the four-year project, and welcomed the launch of NIPPS:

“NIPPS is Nigeria’s first unified framework to protect and commercialize intellectual property rights… The development of the Policy began in 2020 with support from WIPO, and received inputs from over 200 stakeholders from the government, the private sector, academia and the development sector. In September 2022, the draft policy was validated in a National Multi-Stakeholder Workshop organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria and WIPO.”