How To Become A Successful Inventor In Nigeria — Getting Support For Your Inventing Activities 3

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By Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okafor

Welcome to the tenth installment of this serialized post.

I would not stop enthusing how much I am thrilled to put requisite information about inventing and inventive undertaking in Nigeria at your disposal which I did not have access to when I really needed it.

In this installment, I aim to expatiate on specific organs in Nigeria which are well positioned to support for your inventive undertaking. Requisite and timely competent technical and professional support can make all the difference in the world. An example is National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).

NOTAP has been statutorily established by Nigerian law and empowered to support inventions and innovations towards Indigenous technological advancement in Nigeria.

In the last two segments, I dwelt on getting competent technical and professional support for your inventive undertaking using the media stories of different sets of inventors in Nigeria and from outside of Nigeria to illustrate the lessons sharing.

In Nigeria today, there are a growing number of government and non-government bodies with capacity and competence to support a prospective inventor or innovator. In this post, I will cite, in brief, the example of two Nigerian innovators Messrs Kunle Odebunmi and Femi Adeyemo who established Arnergy.

The work founded by these two men have benefited from both technical and financial support from a number of corporate entities.

In July 2015 - the duo of Femi Adeyemo and Kunle Odebunmi emerged the final winners of the Bank of Industry (BoI)'s Request for low-cost rural solar energy proposals, with their innovative and out of the box ideas for confronting the hydra-headed energy problems bedeviling the country. Their presentations secured long-term financing for the installation of off-grid solar home systems in six (6) Nigerian communities with financing from BoI/UNDP programme that has seen 2000 people in Osun and Edo State enjoy uninterrupted electricity in the last seven months.

In December 2015, the Solar Nigeria Programme an Initiative of the UK's Government Department For International Development (DfID/UKAID) implemented by Adam Smith International (ASI) awarded Arnergy, a £100,000 (US$146,000) grant to expand operations in Northern Nigeria.

Arnergy innovators — Messrs Kunle Odebunmi and Femi Adeyemo have broken fresh frontiers in the renewable energy sector

For now I would highlight the federally instituted National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).

In February 2014, Senator Ihenyen posted an excellent treatise on NOTAP which the blogger serialized in three posts on the Nigerian Law Today blog. I have condensed the three posts into one for your convenience thus it is a long read; I assure you it is totally worth your time.

The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP): Supporting Inventions and Innovations towards Indigenous Technological Advancement in Nigeria

In this article, I will be closely examining the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP or the National Office). This is not only because it is one of the Federal parastatals charged with the responsibility of realizing the goals of the existing National Policy on Technological Development. NOTAP also has the ultimate mandate of taking Nigeria to greater heights scientifically and technologically. This is to be realized through its various activities. Some of these activities include the evaluation and registration of Technology Transfer Agreements, commercialization of R&D (Research and Development), and promotion of Intellectual Property (IP), among others.

History of NOTAP: Nigeria's First Step towards a Technological Revolution

For a long time, there had been a wide gap in the acquisition of foreign technology in the country. From the Nigerian angle, this unhealthy gap had to be filled to remedy many of the challenges being faced. This led to the establishment of the National Office of Industrial Property (NOIP) in 1979. Established by virtue of Decree No. 70 of 1979, NOIP was an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

In 1992, NOIP was renamed the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). This was by virtue of section 1(1) of the National Office of Industrial Property (Change of Name, etc) Decree No. 82 of 1992. Also, section 2 of the Decree redesignated the principal Act as the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion Act Cap. N62 LFN 2004 (the Act).

Apart from ensuring that the name reflected the wider functions and roles of the body, there was a need to clearly distinguish it from any similar government parastatal or agency. Also, its role in the aspects of technology transfer, development of R&D, and promotion of indigenous technology enterprises needed to be brought to the fore.

In the new world economy, governments can no longer afford to take the back seat. The Office needed to be actively involved in both developmental and promotional activities, rather than playing just regulatory roles. This was to improve on its efforts towards attracting foreign investments, and development of indigenous technology.

Organizational Structure of NOTAP

The National Office is a body corporate with perpetual succession, and a common seal. It may sue or be sued in its corporate name (section 1(2) of the Act). According to section 2 of the Act, it has a Governing Council that is responsible for the formulation of policy for the National Office and the discharge of other functions the Act confers on it. This Governing Council is comprised of a Chairman and other members. Membership is drawn from certain ministries, agencies and institutions. It consists of one representative each from the Federal ministries of Finance, Internal Affairs, Justice, Commerce and Works and Housing. Others are one representative each of the National Science and Technology Development Agency, universities in Nigeria, and one from the polytechnics and colleges of technology in Nigeria. And the Director.

Section 10(1) and (2) of the Act provides for the office of the Director of the National Office. He is to be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Minister. The Director is the chief executive officer of the National Office, and holds office on terms and conditions stated in his appointment letter, or determined by the President or Council from time to time.

The structure of the National Office as being operated today is not different. Although the Director is known as Director General, this is to more conveniently recognize the existence of other Directors from various departments of the National Office who report directly to the Director General (DG). I believe this arrangement has been accommodated by section 10(4) of the Act, where it is stated that the Governing Council can appoint from time to time such other staff that may be required for the efficient performance of the functions conferred on the National Office under the Act. Therefore, it has the Administration/Finance (A/F) Department Monitoring, Consultancy and Extension Services (MCES) Department, Technology Evaluation, Development and Promotion (TEDP) Department, and the Technology Acquisition, Documentation and Information (TADI) Department. There are also six units in the National Office namely, Information Technology and Consultancy Services; Public Relations and Protocol, and the Legal Unit. Others are the Internal Audit, Procurement unit, and Lagos Zonal office. The Lagos extension is attached to the office of the Director General.

Functions of the National Office: Promoting and Developing Indigenous Technology for National Advancement

The National Office is statutorily mandated to monitor, on a continuing basis, the transfer of foreign technology to Nigeria and to provide for other related matters. These are the words of the Act establishing the Office as far back as September, 1979.

In critically examining how the National Office has fared so far, let us briefly look at its functions as stated under section 6 of the Act. Firstly, the National Office is to encourage a more efficient process for the identification and selection of foreign technology. Also, it is to develop the negotiating skills of Nigerians with a view to ensuring the acquisition of the best contractual terms and conditions in the transfer of foreign technology agreements. Other functions include the provision of a more efficient process for the adaptation of imported technology, and the registration of all foreign technology transfer agreements having effect in Nigeria. And it also monitors on a continuous basis the implementation of any registered contract or agreement pursuant to the Act. It mainly emphasizes the need to efficiently register eligible foreign technology transfer agreements in Nigeria. Also the need to originally develop indigenous technology is, to put it mildly, not prioritized. This foreign dependence mentality is understandable, considering that at the time the Act was made in 1979, commercially-viable indigenous technological development in Nigeria was at best still at its embryonic stage. Local content and capacity building in Information Technology (IT) was still dot in a pie chart. We had a long way to go. But over three decades later, is this still the case? I don't think so.

This is why a closer look at the functions of the National Office as stated above would reveal its roles are largely regulatory. And such regulation is mainly geared towards striking the best possible balance in favour of any Nigerian inventor or innovator who was involved in the negotiation of transferring technology. But in terms of actively developing local content and improving capacity building in technology, the National Office has been left literally lame by those who brought it into being.

Interestingly, the National Office must have recognized this challenge when it subsequently changed its approach in the job of taking Nigeria to the next level in technological advancement for global competitiveness. How did the National Office achieve this? It embraced a new way of achieving its goals by broadening its activities to include the commercialization of R&D Results and Inventions. Although there is nowhere in the Act establishing the National Office where this was stated, it must have been an innovative response to the challenge of putting Nigeria on the world map of globally competitive technologies with an Act made in the 20th century. It would perhaps be safe to say that this expansion has been accommodated by the Act since it empowered the National office 'to provide for other related matters.'

On its website, the National Office states commercialization of R&D results and inventions as one of its mandates. It outlined some of the ways they intend to achieve this, namely, the promotion of locally generated technologies, promotion of Intellectual Property, and the promotion and encouragement of the development of creative and inventive skills among Nigerian scientists, researchers, inventors and innovators.

Therefore, to drive this new approach effectively, the vision of the National Office became more developmental and daring. As published on its website, the vision is to:

move Nigeria from the periphery to the dominant centre of global industrial power structure within the shortest possible time and make her a major global power house of the 21st Century through an efficient Technology Acquisition Strategy and a vibrant innovation and R&D commercialization programme.

The mission is to ensure 'the acceleration of Nigeria's drive towards a rapid technological revolution by an efficient acquisition/absorption of foreign technology and a concerted development of indigenous technological capability through a proactive promotion of innovation and commercialization of technology.

From the vision and mission stated above, the two main ideas are the need for an efficient Technology Acquisition Strategy (TAS), and a commercially-viable and innovative R$D drive.

There is no doubt that the National Office has a lot of work to do. It needs to be able to identify talented Nigerian researchers, inventors and innovators. And the enabling environment would also need to be put in place to provide robust support to them. This cannot be realized without a cross-collaboration with all stakeholders such as related agencies in the Federal Science and Technology Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Information Communications Technology, and the Federal Ministry of International Trade and Commerce. Also, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Works and Housing, Youths and Social Development, Justice, Works and Housing, and the Ministry of Education must all be involved as collaborators. I believe the drafters of the Act establishing the National Office must have also appreciated this need when it ensured that the membership of the Governing Council had representations from most of these ministries (Section 2(2) of the Act). And I must add that their state counterparts should not be left out.

The National Office involves in various activities geared towards the realization of its vision and mission. Some of these activities include evaluation/registration of Technology Transfer Agreements; promotion of Intellectual Property; technology advisory and support services; commercialization of R&D results, etc.

It has established a number of Intellectual Property Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) in Universities, Polytechnics and Research Institutions in Nigeria. The IPTTO has been created to provide a vibrant portfolio for both industrial property rights. This is through patenting, and technology licensing to support the ideas from these institutions towards developing a vibrant patent culture in the country. In this way, avenues for a structured system of support that provide incentives to identified Nigerian inventors, innovations and researchers towards viable partnerships. This is meant to create that needed nexus between the university and research institutions, industries, and markets. There has been too much gap between these stakeholders, a situation that has resulted in the current low level of indigenous technological advancement in Nigeria.

With IPTTOs, universities and R&D institutions will have access to a robust IP system as a source of technology information, and wealth creation through the selection and exploration of IPs. Working closely with the National Office, the technological and commercial potentials of these selected IPs would then be evaluated. Also, it is notable that one of the activities of the National Office has been to create a link among our research institutions, industries, venture capitalists and financial institutions, Local, State and Federal governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

NOTAP, Commercialization of R&D Results and the Nigerian Economy

The Federal and State governments in the country have begun to make efforts towards the diversification of the economy. Our oil mono-economy over decades has largely resulted in the challenge of growth without development that we face today. The technology sector is one of those sectors that provide huge potentials as one of the ways of diversifying the Nigerian economy. It remains a largely unexplored opportunity in a country brimming with ideas, innovations and entrepreneurship. The technology sector in the country is worth trillions of naira. And considering the multiplier effect a significant exploration of its potentials would have on job opportunities and wealth creation in a country of over 165 million people, it is a goldmine.

This is the time we greatly need to fully explore technology to grow our industries. From agriculture to power, transport to health, education to trade and commerce, an investment in technological development is an investment in the right sector. With an efficient process, home-grown technological solutions can also be explored to solving our peculiar challenges, such as power for instance. Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are bound to grow exponentially once there is a concerted drive towards empowering Nigerian inventors, innovators and researchers with the needed technical and financial support.

As a federal agency, the National Office is to contribute towards the growth of the national economy. As statutorily mandated, this is to be achieved by acquiring, developing and promoting technologies in the country. With the identification and selection of viable research results in an efficient manner by the National Office, feasibility studies can be conducted to test their technological and commercial potentials. Where viable, the concrete results can be commercialized and grown into globally competitive indigenous technology companies and brands.

With the commercialization of R&D results by the National Office, the hitherto challenge would be significantly reduced. This commercialization process, if well managed, would involve the exploration of the technological inventions and innovations from viable research and development activities in our public or private research institutions. The goal of this exploration would be to set up viable pilot plants to demonstrate production processes. These commercial and industrial pilot plants are to be set up to produce goods and services that create value for both local and international markets. It could then be marketed to investors as tested technological products or services. The National Office has the structure and expertise to manage these phases to ensure best international standards and practice.

The National Office, pursuant to its statutory mandate, is expected to provide assistance in helping to commercialize identified and selected inventions and innovations. It facilitates the process, and manages the partnership between the research institutions and the industry. After a critical analysis of how economically viable and environmentally safe they are, each can then proceed to the production stage. With access to the research institutions, it maintains a databank of various inventions or innovations sector by sector. This databank will also contain information about the source of the invention, such as the research institution(s), researcher(s), field of expertise, and the development phase of each invention or innovation.

Commercializing inventions can be very expensive. Very capital intensive. Due to this financial factor, the National Office is prepared to fund the invention 'until commercialization of the venture is completed.' But to be eligible for funding, the invention must have been adjudged commercially viable by the agency. When commercialized, to adequately finance the project, sponsors and financiers are then sort. The sponsor, with or without other financial partners, is required to contribute a percentage of the total funds needed.

Originally published in Nigerian Law Today blog HERE, HERE and HERE

TO BE CONTINUED