OAU student Farinmade emerges winner of 2023 WIPO Essay Competition

A graduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Mr Adedoyin Farinmade, has emerged as overall winner of the 2023 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Nigeria National Essay Competition.

The Director, WIPO Nigeria Office, Mr Tobi Moody, disclosed this on Wednesday when he led the competition’s finalists on a study tour of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) office in Abuja.

According to Moody, WIPO Nigeria Office usually holds the essay competition to engage students in tertiary institutions on the subject of Intellectual Property (IP).

“What we try to do is to give them a topic that is centred on the theme of the World IP Day.

“For this year, the students have written essay on Gender Inclusivity as a Means of Driving Equation and Creativity in Nigeria.

“I’m pleased to tell you that all the students represented here have stood out exceptionally in terms of ideas and on the basis of that they have been invited for study tour in Abuja.

“We have decided to do a study tour to give students opportunity to meet relevant stakeholders and institutions that are related to intellectual property in Nigeria.

“That is why we have come on a tour to the Nigerian Copyright Commission,” he said.

The WIPO director thanked the Commission for extending the hands of fellowship to the winners of the 2023 WIPO Nigeria National Essay Competition.

In his remarks, the Director-General of NCC, Dr John Asein, commended the finalists for recording the feat.

Asein who was represented by Mr Mike Akpan, the Director, Regulatory and Compliance, said that the commission developed the initiative titled “We Win IP’’.

According to him, this means that women empowering women in IP.

He said that members of the commission had thought that a woman would emerge overall winner for the 2023 edition, “but surprisingly a man emerge winner this year.”

The overall winner of the competition, Farinmade, said that he participated in the competition to share his knowledge and give recommendations on gender inclusivity on IP space.

“I took out time to research about the issues that women face in the IP space and issues that women have, using and engaging in the IP system.

“And I was able to come up with solutions that would help women to interact with IP system.

“In other countries, women have engaged in the IP system and in one way or the other, this will add value to their economy.

“I feel that in Nigeria too, if we have more women participating and engaging in the IP space, it is going to be a way forward to grow our economy,” the Farinmade said.

According to him, this competition simply encourages more women to become creators, inventors and also encourages women to go into IP space because IP is a vehicle for economic growth.