Intellectual Property Rights for Plant Varieties in Nigeria: Critical Reflections on TWAIL, Empirical and Comparative Methodologies

In this reflective piece, I will discuss the methodologies I adopted to answer the three research questions posed in my doctoral thesis titled ‘The Regime Complex for Plant Variety Protection: Revisiting TRIPS Implementation in Nigeria.’ First, what type of intellectual property rights (IPR) for plant varieties is best suited to Nigeria? This question stems from Nigeria’s membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its obligation under article 27.3(b) of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to protect plant varieties. Second, how can Nigeria design and implement such a system? This question addresses the requirements for the establishment of the IPR system identified as suitable for Nigeria. Third, why do Global South members of the WTO introduce systems that differ from their rhetoric at the TRIPS Council? This question uncovers reasons for the contradictions between Global South WTO members’ rhetoric at the TRIPS Council in Geneva (‘Geneva rhetoric’) and their actions at home. Its answers provide lessons for Nigeria. To unpack these questions, I decided to centre the interests of the often marginalised small-scale farmers, who are significant contributors to the agricultural sector in Nigeria.