Rising Wave of Authority Stealing

Stealing and lying are being consciously put together in brazen manner in government circles in Nigeria.

The same government whose job it is to protect the intellectual property of its citizenry is being accused of usurping other people’s ideas; using same; and not giving credits to the originators of the ideas.

Stealing of ideas by ministries, departments and agencies of government is so widespread now that it is threatening to overtake the menace of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. It is a cankerworm.

For the government and its functionaries it is, ‘do what we say, and not what we do’.  Shame!

In other climes, governments enforce strict Intellectual property laws and that is why their economies are growing.  Intellectual property fires the kiln of production.

But Nigeria has continued to go in circles because when government officials steal from Nigerians, they lack the important resources and skills to execute the projects.

Without long term vision, the resultant projects from the stolen ideas are inorganic; unrealistic; and make mockery of the government in power. Look at the white elephant projects that litter the country.

Again, the inanity of the controversial 10 million mobile phones proposed for farmers by the ministry of Agriculture shows the ineptness of a stolen idea.

Anabel Mobile, a local phone maker said the idea was hijacked from it.

Nicolas Okoye, chief executive officer,  Anabel said: “The very fact that Adesina (Minister for Agriculture) has admitted that it is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Communication is a confession of guilt because Anabel Mobile, it was, that introduced the scheme to the Ministry of Communication in the first place.”

He supported his claim with the various proposals and letters which were duly stamped and signed as received.

According to Okoye, Anabel Mobile first introduced the idea in a proposal it prepared and sent to the ministries of agriculture and communication in 2011.

In the proposal, he said his company presented an elaborate public private partnership model that would ensure farmers in rural areas benefit from strategic agricultural services through the phone project.

He added that a feature of the idea is the creation of thousands of jobs since the phones would be manufactured in Nigeria.

Anabel Mobile offered details but the ministry of Agriculture has failed to convince anybody how it plans to sink N60 billion of Nigeria’s payers’ money to promote agriculture.

Critics of the ministry of Agriculture phone see it as an outrageous idea which does not solve the primary challenges that Nigerian farmers are contending against.

In Nigeria, where phones now ring in every pocket, purse and bag; the proposed cost per telephone is higher than the going rate in the market.

And what research was carried out by the ministry of Agriculture to show that there are 10 million farmers who need to be supplied with cell phones?

Well, the real issue is that action of the government officials is causing the like of Anabel and hundreds of other genuine Nigerians and companies’ untold hardship.

Government officials’ gluttony and corrupt practices are causing Nigerians thousands of jobs and companies profits.

Most companies and individuals who dare to contest their intellectual property rights are harassed; hounded and chased out by the officials who operate like organized crime groups, and terrorist organizations.

This is call to action on the Nigerian government to stop this senseless robbing people of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions.

The government should borrow from the United States of America which has made prevention of intellectual property theft a top priority.

That country’s key to success is linking the considerable resources and efforts of the private sector with law enforcement partners on local, state, federal, and international levels.