El-Rufai’s Wife Calls for Public Private Partnerships to Promote IP Investments

The first lady of Kaduna State, Mrs. Asia Ahmad El-Rufai, has called for public and private partnerships for the promotion of innovation, creativity and investments in Intellectual Property (IP) in Kaduna State, especially in the area of balancing gender involvement.

The wife of the state governor made this call at a seminar organised by the Intellectual Property Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) in Kaduna on Thursday, where she also called for sustainable sensitisation of the public on the challenges, expectations and benefits of a proactive IP regime and the revamping and remodelling of our educational curriculum.

She said: “We need to think out of the box in formulating policies, also taking into consideration our areas of strength and our peculiarities.”
The event hosted by the NBA-SBL Intellectual Property Committee, saw the coming together of eminent and celebrated IP minds at the seminar with two significant themes – ‘Securing Nigeria’s Future Through Innovation and Creativity’, and ‘Powering Change: Women in Innovation and Creativity’.

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the IP Committee, Mr. Afam Nwokedi, called on stakeholders to join in the very useful and imperative discussions needed to draw a road map for actualising the formulation of an IP policy in Nigeria.
He noted that as IP was an essential ingredient in any form of development that Nigeria would seek, it was necessary to get it right from the beginning.

Nwokedi advocated Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the intellectual space to encourage diversity of thoughts and cross-pollination of ideas.
He said: “The expectations on Nigeria to meet up with what is considered as international best practices in the field of IP must not overshadow our national interest and quest to join the comity of developed nations.”

Buttressing this position, the Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Olumide Akpata, informed participants at the event that the NBA-SBL had undertaken the task of developing capacity and growth in the legal profession through its various committees.
He said: “The SBL is partnering with relevant institutions to formulate curriculums. The process of knowledge acquisition being continuous, the Section will churn out more thought-provoking platforms to assist in the drive for knowledge acquisition, not only amongst qualified lawyers, but potential law graduates.”