Dr. John Asein, Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), emphasized the importance of every university having an Intellectual Property (IP) policy to safeguard their innovative and creative outputs.
He made this statement while presenting the revised Model Intellectual Property (IP) policy to the General Assembly of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) in Abuja.
According to Asein, the model policy—initially developed by the NCC in partnership with the CVCNU in 2021—has been reissued to encourage its adoption and implementation as part of the commission’s renewed efforts.
He praised the immediate past Secretary General of CVCNU for supporting the initiative and working with the NCC to promote the sustainable use and effective management of IP in Nigerian universities.
Asein advised tertiary institutions, as centers of learning and research, to introduce their faculties and students to the subject of intellectual property in line with global trends and to make Nigerian universities globally competitive.
The NCC boss assured vice-chancellors of the commission’s readiness to help in the development and implementation of the policy.
“The commission will work with other agencies, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to begin the intellectual property ranking of universities and celebrate those that excel in the respect, generation, use, and commercialization of IP,” he said.
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