This groundbreaking interview with the inaugural Registrar of Nigeria’s Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO), Dr Folarin Sunday Okelola, explores Nigeria’s Plant Variety Protection Act 2021 (PVP Act) and the country’s recent accession to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Nigeria became the 80th member of UPOV on 27 March 2025. Dr Okelola offers a first-hand account of the stakeholders involved in the development of the PVP Act, the motivations behind Nigeria’s decision to join UPOV, and the progress made since the PVP Act entered into force. He also reflects on the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing Nigeria’s first PVP Act. Accordingly, this interview provides in-depth insights into Nigeria’s emerging plant variety protection landscape.
Dr Okelola is an agricultural seed science and development expert with over nineteen (19) years of experience in agricultural and seed industry coordination and management across several countries. He possesses extensive technical expertise in seed systems, agricultural innovations, enterprise development, private sector coordination, value chain management, research management, and agricultural seed policy formulation. His career has focused on improving crop productivity through seed technologies, seed industry development, private sector engagement in the seed business and promoting the introduction of the PVP Act. Dr Okelola is a member of the Access to Seed Index (ASTI) Expert review committee for the Regional Index for Western & Central Africa and the Association of Seed Scientists of Nigeria (ASSN). Dr Okelola is also a UK Global Talent Visa recipient and a mentor to many young agriculturists and scientists.
Titilayo Adebola (TA): Which stakeholders were involved in the design and introduction of Nigeria’s Plant Variety Protection Act 2021?
Folarin Okelola (FO): The list is very long. We started this journey way back in 2018 at an African Seed Trade Association Congress, where I, a former Director-General (DG) of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Dr Phillip Olusegun Ojo, and participants from some multinationals discussed the intellectual property rights (IPRs) landscape for plant innovation in Nigeria/Africa and noticed that Nigeria had limited IPRs for plants. We felt that Nigeria was missing from the international scene for agricultural seed trade because it was not part of international seed institutions and initiatives such as UPOV, the OECD Seed Scheme and International Seed Testing Association (ISTA).
When I and Dr Ojo returned to Nigeria, we commenced discussions about IPRs for plant innovation with colleagues from AGRA and USAID. I remember going to the USAID Office to defend the request for a grant to facilitate the introduction of a plant variety protection law in Nigeria. We asked for a one-year grant, and the USAID officials asked whether we could deliver on getting the law passed within one year. Eventually, we got that grant and one of the first partners that we contacted was the UPOV Office in Geneva to ask for a model law on plant variety protection, which Nigeria could adopt. The UPOV Office played a very important role in our plant variety protection journey, right from the start. In 2019, when we had the Seed Connect Conference in Nigeria, we invited colleagues from the UPOV Office, OECD, ISTA and International Seed Federation (ISF). They all met with the then Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh. (I am the Convener of the Seed Connect Conference. The Seed Connect Conference is the annual seed sector convergence we have in Nigeria which bring together stakeholders in the agricultural space; it has been running for the past eight (8) years).
In addition to the UPOV Office, at the international level, we had support from Syngenta Foundation. Syngenta Foundation had a project called AVISA that supported us. The New Markets Lab played a role in reviewing and revising the Plant Variety Protection Bill. We also worked with international consultants, including a former Managing Director of the Kenyan Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), who reviewed and revised the draft Plant Variety Protection Bill and the draft Plant Variety Protection Regulation. Notable programmes and partnerships that supported our work include the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA – partners include AGRA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ) and the Netherlands through the Nigeria-Netherlands Collaborative Seed Programme. Furthermore, I attended workshops and seminars on plant variety protection and seed systems in Switzerland, sponsored by the United States Patent Office (USPTO). If I have omitted anyone, I am sure that they will forgive me; it is not deliberate.
At the national level, we also discussed with colleagues in the breeders and seed-related associations in Nigeria, including the Seed Entrepreneurs Association, Nigeria Plant Breeders Association and Plant Breeders Association of Nigeria. In addition, we discussed with colleagues from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Federal Ministry of Justice (FMJ) and National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). In 2019, we eventually got the law into the National Assembly, and the journey progressed. I must also mention the National Assembly of Nigeria for their contribution along with the various Honourable Ministers of Agriculture, Permanent Secretaries, NASC Board and Management, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), All Farmers Association of Nigeria, various farmer groups and media partners. They all contributed to the introduction of the PVP Act.
TA: Please discuss in detail the process that led to the introduction of Nigeria’s Plant Variety Protection Act 2021.
FO: We started by putting a team together to draft the law, which we sent to the Ministry of Justice to ensure compliance with the legal drafting process. We were also lucky to have a former Honorable Member of the Representatives, Hon Munir Babba Dan Agundi (Kano State), who sponsored the Plant Variety Protection Bill and introduced it to the National Assembly. The Bill went through all the required legislative processes, including the First, Second and Third Readings both in the House of Representatives and Senate. There was a public hearing, and we also provided responses to oppositions to the Bill. The Bill was signed and passed into Law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21 May 2021.
The lawmaking process also involved media engagement and public advocacy. To create awareness, we facilitated and attended workshops and seminars in Abuja and the southern part of Nigeria, including Lagos. We attended meetings organised by public and private stakeholders, including farmer associations, to share updates on the law-making process. We adopted a broad-based approach, which is why we eventually got the assent of both the National Assembly and the President.
TA: Please discuss in detail what inspired Nigeria’s decision to join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)?
FO: In other areas of society, such as science and the arts, inventors typically seek patents for their innovations, while authors secure copyright for their written works. In addition, Nollywood – the Nigerian Film Industry –demonstrates how IPRs can be a powerful tool for growth and development. Accordingly, we felt that if we do not have IPRs, our agricultural sector will go nowhere. The Nigerian population is increasing, yet our yields remain one of the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa. Our public research institutions are not adequately funded. The Nigerian government, with its limited resources and the need to fund many other sectors competing for funds, does not adequately fund research. For the private sector to fill the gap, they must be incentivised to do so. One of the ways to incentivise the private sector is through IPRs. Our food products are now being exported for value addition, only to be imported back and sold at significantly higher prices. Garri from China is a clear example of this trend. We cannot compete with these forms of commercialisation without empowering investment in the agricultural sector and the only way that we can provide this empowerment is through IPRs.
There is a common saying in Nigeria’s seed sector that the country’s seed system is like a three-legged table, which remained unstable and incomplete without the fourth leg needed for proper balance. The three legs are the (i) Variety Release System (ii) Seed Quality Assurance System and the (iii) Seed Certification System, while the missing leg to make the seed table balanced is “Plant Variety Protection.” The introduction of a Plant Variety Protection system is intended to benefit farmers by providing them with an additional option for acquiring plant varieties/seeds. In Nigeria, farmers already can get their seeds from (i) Landraces, (ii) Farm-saved seeds and (iii) Certified non-protected seeds. The protected plant varieties offer an additional choice to the pool of plant varieties for farmers. Like other advanced economies in the world, we should also have the certified protected class of seeds for farmers to choose from. When they see the differences in the seed options they have, they can decide what is best for them.
TA: What scope is there within the Plant Variety Protection Act and Plant Variety Protection Office for the protection of farmers varieties?
FO: The PVPA clearly defines who a breeder is. Section 56 of the PVPA defines a breeder as a (i) Person who bred or discovered and developed a variety (ii) Person who is the employer of the person who bred or discovered and developed, a variety or who has commissioned the latter’s work; or (iii) A successor-in-title of a person mentioned in paragraph (i) or (ii). Farmers and farming communities qualify as breeders under the PVPA. The PVPA does not stop farmers from using their seeds/saved seeds. It is not going to stop them from using landraces or the use of certified non-protected varieties. It is only bringing an additional choice to the pool of plant varieties that farmers can choose from. We are adding more to the options that farmers have. However, farmers saved seeds would not meet the condition of novelty. While the PVP Act will in no way limit farmers from using their saved seeds, it stops farmers from using protected varieties without authorisation.
In Nigeria, we are just starting our plant variety protection journey, and we have a long road ahead. We are looking to other examples such as the India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority and the European Union’s Community Plant Variety Protection Office to learn from what they have done. But you know, for a child to walk successfully, he or she must first crawl. For us in the PVPO, we want to crawl before we walk. We are not even adequately staffed. We do not have the capacity now to start unpacking complex issues. That is why we chose to go the UPOV way, where there is a harmonised system for us to start from. We do not have the capacity, experience, expertise or human power of India.
We have chosen to go with UPOV because it is a harmonised system, and we can leverage on the experience of UPOV members. Looking at our neighbours, for example, the Francophone countries that surround Nigeria, all of them have grouped together under the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI) to join UPOV. Ghana is now also a UPOV member, we do not want to be left behind. Let me also add that the PVP Act has exceptions for farmers to use seeds/varieties, including protected varieties on their farm holdings (Section 30, PVP Act). We plan to discuss this extensively when the PVPO is firmly established. We will also have townhall meetings with farmers to determine the scope of such exceptions.
TA: Since the PVPA entered into force in 2021, what has been your experience so far?
FO: In 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the PVP Act. However, we needed to deposit our instrument of accession with the UPOV Office to officially join UPOV. Due to the change in government shortly thereafter, we had to wait for the new President to sign it. We eventually got the instrument of accession signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last year. Thereafter, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we deposited the instrument of accession with the UPOV Office, which culminated in our membership on 27 March 2025. We have been committed to ensuring that all the required institutional processes are completed. We have also gone forward to get the approval of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to develop the PVP Regulation and get it gazetted.
Through the Nigeria-Netherlands Collaborative Seed Programme mentioned earlier, we have also designed a portal – an electronic application system, linking the plant variety release under the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) with the PVPO’s plant variety protection registration process so that anyone within or outside the country can apply for protection through the portal. We needed the Regulation to be in place to allow for registration because the PVP Act does not provide for fees and charges, which we now have in the PVP Regulation as gazetted in 2024. We have not yet received any applications for registration, but we hope that having crossed all these hurdles, we can now settle down and build capacity to start receiving and processing applications.
TA: How will the Plant Variety Protection Office conduct the tests required for registering new plant varieties?
FO: It is a tall assignment. This is one of the reasons we decided to go the UPOV way, because like I mentioned earlier, UPOV has built a system over the years that spans across several countries, and we can leverage on the harmonised pool of resources to start our work in Nigeria. Now that Nigeria is a member of UPOV, we plan to utilise its e-PVP system and tools such as the UPOV PRISMA and PLUTO database to facilitate plant variety protection registration in the country. Being a UPOV member, we can also accept DUS (“Distinctness”, “Uniformity” and “Stability”) reports from other members that have already protected varieties under consideration in our office. As much as possible, we plan to leverage on collaborations and partnerships. In-country, we will also advocate for building capacity of our research centres to conduct DUS testing under our guidance and protocols. The breeders that submit applications can also conduct the tests. The UPOV system provides several options for DUS testing. We can either conduct the tests at the PVPO or we can ask others to conduct the tests under our guidance and supervision. Building infrastructure and facilities may take a long time.
The PVPO is domiciled in the NASC. We are a quasi-autonomous office under the leadership of the Director General of NASC. Accordingly, we will leverage on existing facilities of NASC. We are looking forward to signing Memorandums of Understanding with institutions such as NACGRAB and its the variety release unit, agricultural research centres, universities and private companies with the required facilities to conduct DUS tests on our behalf following our guidelines and protocols. We have seen some countries adopting this approach. Overall, the PVPO is still new, and it needs all the support that it can get to make sure that its plant variety protection rules are implemented successfully.
TA: Thank you, Dr. Okelola, for granting this interview and for generously sharing your detailed insights into the design and development of the plant variety protection system in Nigeria.
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