Using Copyright for Development in Nigeria: BBC World Trust

Mr. Akim Mogaji, Creative Director for the BBC World Service Trust, Nigeria, was one of a number of industry and civil society representatives to speak on the use of intellectual property (IP) for development, in the margins of the meeting of the Provisional Committee on Proposals related to a Development Agenda for WIPO in February.

The BBC World Service Trust is an international development organization. It helps students in developing countries to create radio and television programs, which aim to improve quality of life through a combination of education and entertainment. For example, Mr. Mogaji directs the hugely popular Nigerian radio series, Story Story, which addresses poverty, governance and HIV/Aids through the soap opera format of the lives of its characters.. The Trust first sought Mr. Mogaji’s services six years ago to help realize a project to raise awareness about human rights in Kenya, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico. At the premiere screening in Geneva of his documentary film, Wetin Day, Mr. Mogaji discussed how copyright is critical to building sustainable film and media-based industries in developing countries. The following comments are extracted from our interview with Mr. Mogaji after the screening.

" Voices, our main project since 2003, has been training broadcasters in various skills and producing programs. We hope that when we leave, in 2, 4 or 5 years time, that we leave a production unit, that is stand alone. We also hope that the people we have trained will act as trainers to the industry – we are hoping to transform the industry that way. In the end, this has got to be a commercial enterprise, and to have a commercial enterprise you need copyright in place for the money to come back. We target the young to get students aware of copyright, before they come into the industry.

"We like to see ourselves as a diaspora project, we try to bring as many people as possible back to Nigeria to...