The global and African contexts of Nigerian resident patenting status

Abstract

The subject of patent is increasingly becoming important for discourse in these days of creativity and innovative behavior. With growing information and technology, and as innovation is invariably becoming major driver of economic growth, it is not odd to expect that the number of patent applications in a given jurisdiction should bear some relationship with the population size and level of economic prosperity as measured by gross domestic product (GDP). This paper attempts to understand the existence or otherwise of such correlation among the three variables across 48 countries of the world having at least, 400 resident applications in the year 2020 as per the records of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The global outlook was later compared with that from leading 20 African countries having authenticated records with WIPO for the same year 2020. The outcome of these two statistical analyses are thereafter mirrored against the realities of Nigerian economy and patenting system. Besides, the potentials of her domestic (residents’) registered patents translating into economic value is also brought under searchlight. Findings revealed that the number of patent application by Nigerian patents neither reflect the global nor African level of correlation with the twin variables of population size and nominal output of gross domestic product, mainly due to her lopsided economic base on precarious mineral resource (crude oil) whose future is apparently, bleak. Thus, the economy does not appear to have been technologically geared for sustainable growth. Equally precarious is her deposit system of patent registration which does not portend reliable potentials for value realization from the grants. A diversification of the Nigerian economy along agriculture and manufacturing investments anchored on innovative practices that would unearth her comparative advantage is therefore advocated. The patenting system would also need to be overhauled, perhaps, commencing with her full identification with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) for cost-efficiency in patent search and examination.