The 13th September of every year is commemorated in all African Sates as African Day for Technology and Intellectual Property (IP). The Commemoration is in compliance with the resolution made by the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU) Council of Ministers and Assembly of Heads of States and Government at Addis Ababa-Ethiopia in July, 1999 to celebrate the day across the continent.
The Director General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim, said that in realization of the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) Protection to national development, the Nigerian government joined other African countries in celebrating the day.
According to the press statement signed by Mr. Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu of the Public Relations Unit, that the Director General said that the event was to arouse the latent creativity and inventive spirit of young inventor and innovators as IP is one of the ways throughwhich rapid development of a nation can be achieved. He added that it was also to further sensitize and facilitate the domestication of technology and development of intellectual property right (IPRs) system in African and reawaken the creative ability of the people in the continent to eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development.
Ibrahim stated that no nation on earth can grow without adequate development and deployment of Science, Technology and Innovation. NOTAP as an agency saddled with the responsibility of promoting the inventive and innovative spirit of Nigerians has over the years, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (FMSTI), commemorated this day to demonstrate to our Children and youths the importance of IPR to nation building.
He reiterated that technology and intellectual property system have long been recognized to be among the foremost important factors in nation building and wealth creation. “Ideas and knowledge are increasingly becoming veritable instruments in international trade relations as codified in the trade related aspect of intellectual property (TRIP) under the world trade Organization (WTO), agreements to which Nigeria is a signatory.”
