Drug Counterfeiting: Experts call for comprehensive national Intellectual Property policy
On
By Chioma Obinna
For Nigeria to take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, experts have called on the Federal Government to immediately establish a comprehensive national Intellectual Property, IP, a policy that would address what they described as “fragmented framework” for IP protection in Nigeria even as they regretted that Nigeria does not produce up to 1 per cent of generic medicines in the world
At a media parley on Counterfeiting and IP Infringement in the Pharmaceutical Space”, the stakeholders maintained that getting an effective policy and strategy was the only way to benefit from the African free trade otherwise Nigeria will end up with only pockets of activities.
Otu Ukoyen, general secretary of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria (IPLAN), says the copyright bill have not been passed into law because of insufficient interest on the part of the legislature.