OP-ED: Africa: Between Current Challenges And The Need For Educational Innovation

In previous write ups I have highlighted the importance of education to innovation. In this one, I intend to draw attention to the importance of innovation in education. This write up begins with the relationships between challenges and opportunities and how these can stimulate innovation.

Two major challenges which have hit Nigeria in recent times are the rise of insurgency and more recently the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). In processing the immediate impacts of these, in terms of loss of lives and liberty, it is easy to lose sight of the impact it is having on other sections of the socio-economic polity. One sector being seriously impacted is Education.

OP-ED: Connecting Law, Entrepreneurship And Innovation

Last weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the National Open University during the Law Week Dinner of the University's Law society. While I had been nominated in view of my experience with intellectual property law, I was given a blank check to speak on any topic of my choosing. I used the opportunity to speak on a range of things that were within my areas of interest, in a way that was relevant to them. Below are some of the key insights I shared.

Let’s begin with some working definition of the key terms: 

• Law: A rule defining correct procedure or behavior for individuals, businesses, organizations and societies.

• Entrepreneurship:  The process of starting a business or other organization. The entrepreneur develops a business model, acquires the human and other required resources, and is fully responsible for its success or failure (Wikipedia).The entrepreneurial mindset is usually characterized by risk-taking and innovation.

• Innovation: A new method, idea or product; a new thing, or a new way of doing an old thing.

• The need for regulation to guide a business environment becoming increasingly complex

#101 Series: Protecting Your Ideas: An Introduction to Non-Disclosure Agreements

One of the aims of this blog is to aid the understanding and creation of Intellectual Property (IP). Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind that may be transformed into a functional, visual and/or artistic form for the benefit and enjoyment of others.  One of the key goals of Intellectual Property Law is the protection of ideas by the owner.

Ideas may be protected by various means; by copyrights in the case of a literary or artistic work, by a patent- if you are an inventor who has created a functional product, a trademark   for your logo, product or cartoon character, or by a registered design for the way   a product looks.

Regardless of what type of intellectual property you are protecting, there will be a need to share your ideas with some people such as investors, technical partners or promoters, before the product gets to the market.   At this stage, issues like confidentiality, non-circumvention and non-disclosure become important.

Many years ago, I submitted a proposal to a Finance Company in response to an open Request for Proposal (RFP).  The lady who received my proposal was really pleasant, and I was really hopeful.

After awaiting feedback for what I figured was too long a time, I decided to approach someone in the company who ought to know about the RFP. He came back to me saying he didn’t find my proposal in all the submissions. However, he saw a proposal which was almost identical to mine (as per the copy I showed him), and it had been submitted by a company the husband of the pleasant lady worked for.

OP ED: Nigeria's New National ID Card, What's A Nation's Identity Worth?

One of the high points of the news in Nigeria last week, was the announcement of the New National Identity Card launched by the federal Government, through the Nigerian Identity Management Commission.

The card allows handlers effect payments and other financial transactions, stores their biometric data  and also serves as a means of identification. The cards will be issued to Nigerians, 16 years and older, and are expected to serve as voting cards in the 2019 elections.

While it was flagged off by the president himself with a lot of fanfare and enthusiasm by its core sponsors and promoters, it was greeted with outrage