The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) is to partner with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to deepen Intellectual Property (IP) culture in Nigeria.
Director General of NOTAP Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim pointed this out when he paid a courtesy visit on the Chief Executive of NSE Mr. Oscar Onyema at the Stock Exchange House, Marina Lagos recently.
The Director General said NOTAP is one of the 17 parastatals under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and is strategically responsible for facilitating the acquisition of foreign technology in Nigeria.
This mandate he added is mainly carried out through the evaluation and registration of technology transfer agreements signed by Nigerian entrepreneurs and their foreign technical partners and also by monitoring the implementation of technology transfer agreements and projects.
Dr. Ibrahim asserted that NOTAP carries out the evaluation of the agreements to ensure that technologies which can easily be adapted to suit the local environment are acquired and at equitable, fair and commensurate prices and also ensuring the eventual takeover of the projects by qualified and skilled Nigerians over time.
He added that in fulfilling its mandate, NOTAP interacts with many stakeholders including industrialists, consultants, foreign transferors, researchers, Inventors, Innovators and other industry to guide them either in the draft of the agreements between the parties and or in the negotiation of the contracts prior to the draft of the agreement.
He concluded that NOTAP would be willing to partner with NSE through deploying its expertise in Intellectual Property (IP) matters for the benefits of NSE and by extension Nigerians.
Welcoming the NOTAP team, the Chief Executive of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema commended the office for the great work it is doing in intellectual property awareness. He stated that most of the applications being utilized by the exchange for its business activities were approved through NOTAPs regulatory intervention.
Mr. Onyema revealed that the NSE has filed about 100 patent applications which are awaiting certificates and therefore solicits NOTAPs support to secure the patents as it will go a long way in facilitating the work of the exchange.
The DG NOTAP was at the Nigerian Stock Exchange House on the invitation of NSE management for The Sounding of the Closing Gong ceremony on the Trading Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The event provided a veritable platform to showcase NOTAP to the capital market community in Nigeria, and International business community .