Before we start (if we’re not already) thinking otherwise, Nigeria
(precisely, one of its government ministries) does care about its position on
the Global Innovation Index (GII) scoreboard. Strangely enough, it seems as if the
government had an idea that the 2014 GII wasn't going to be good news.
According to a report by This
Day Live (dated 29 June 2014), the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology
(FMCT), Mrs. Omobola Johnson, remarked: “GII seeks to enable countries benchmark
the success or otherwise of their Science Technology and Innovations (STI) and
policies, and is an index that we must have in our consciousness as we
implement our STI policy.” [This policy -which is ICT focused, and described as a “quantum
leap”- was approved
since 2012. For a summary and/or history of this policy, see here
and here. The initial revised policy, i.e. as of 2011, might be this one here]
Mrs Johnson further added: “In 2010, Nigeria ranked 96 out
of 132 countries, in 2011 we ranked 96 out of 125 countries and in 2013,
Nigeria ranked 96 out of 142 countries. The increasing denominator of countries
ranked could imply that we are making slow and steady progress but
unfortunately we still fall into the lower quartiles of the rankings.” [Well, readers
would’ve already seen Afro-IP’s
list for all African countries since 2007. The pertinent point is that
Africa’s current largest economy still finds itself down there]
Commentary
First, the Afro-IP blog applauds Mrs. Johnson for appreciating, with good grace, the GII (whichever year that may be), and calling for the swift implementation of the STI policy. At least, there is something to focus on, and as the saying goes: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a
single step”. [Afro Leo also commends the Minister for her gallant efforts and
advocacy e.g. here,
here,
and here]
We also note that there is a grand
plan to have all government ministries and agencies operating online as soon as possible; this may well spell more
good news for IP rights administration in Nigeria.
This Leo thinks, for what it’s worth, that:
Nigeria shouldn’t worry too much about its ranking on the
GII scoreboard; there are a lot of these world rankings about - most
importantly, the World
Bank’s Doing Business Report (DBR). The GII is indeed a useful reference
point for policymakers and it would be worthwhile to actually study all the reports
since 2007, in order to draw meaningful lessons and comparisons.
Care should be taken to avoid knee-jerk reactions or
irrational decisions, which may give rise to misplaced investments or policies
without tangible outputs. So, looking at the 2014 GII, the government could
just pick out one or two of the innovation input sub-indices [Afro Leo strongly
recommends ‘institution’ and/or ‘human capital and research’] and see if it can
improve them. There will be financial costs attached to this, but there must be
a strong political will to yield ROI. Is it surprising that the top five African
countries in the 2014 GII equally performed much better than Nigeria in the 2014
DBR? [Afro Leo screams: Mauritius ranked above Germany?] There may well be a correlation or lesson to be learnt here.
The government might even decide to go beyond the STI policy
by designing and effectively implementing a joined-up Knowledge Economy Master
Plan. Ideally, this Plan should be maintained and/or reviewed by subsequent
governments. There are no shortcuts to this; it is a long-term game.
In conclusion, since the theme for this year’s GII is ‘human
factor in innovation’, this Leo would like to leave you - wishing you a nice weekend - with the
words of Amartya Sen on investing
in human development: “The rewards of human development go, as we have seen,
well beyond the direct enhancement of quality of life, and include also its
impact on people’s productive abilities and thus on economic growth on a widely
shared basis”. Source: Development
as Freedom.
----Ends-----
Miscellaneous notes:
(1) Earlier this
year, Nigeria’s President inaugurated
a National Research and Innovation Council (NRIC) with the commitment to
developing a knowledge-based economy. [The UK Government looks
like it is supporting this initiative; so is Japan]
(2) This Leo didn't find any direct comment(s) regarding the GII
by the Federal Ministry of Science and
Technology (FMST), whose website was down at the time of writing. However, FMST’s Minister, Dr.
Abdul Bulama, has said some interesting things around the subject-matter here
and here.
(3) Readers will already be aware that the FMST
looks after the National
Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) – an agency with a unique
and crucial role to play in innovation.
(4) Serious consideration should be given to the state of Nigeria's IP offices, and IP law reform (plus an IP policy). Here is an interesting piece of research by Dr. Ikechi Mgbeoji, which reviews the patent offices across Africa. You may wish to digest that excellent work together with Afro-IP's A-Z series reviewing the websites of African IP offices (here and here) and IP policies in Africa.
----------------------
Some more references
----------------------
Nigerian government’s policy values ICT innovation,
particularly software development here
FMCT urges Nigerian-based businesses to adopt .ng domain to
boost economy here
FMCT also cares about consumer rights here
FMCT signs MOU with Bayelsa State Government here
IBM Innovation Hub in Nigeria is here
Huawei (GII 2014 Knowledge Partner) to invest in Nigeria’s
ICT here
Did you know that Nigeria has a National Board for Technology
Incubation? See here
