USA — All Publications — Chidi Oguamanam

As an African and a Canadian, I inhabit an observatory. I am a resident in two worlds of blunt contrasts. On a good note, daily at every turn, those contrasts offer privileged lessons on the richness and complexity of the human experience, of our world. In this observatory, it is irresistible not to have a geopolitical perspective on the dynamic of Africa’s relationship with the global south. And since the formal declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by WHO’s Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the reality of that stark contrast has never been more evident.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Retooling Indigenous Resurgence for Development

CIGI Papers
No. 234 (2019)

Re-Thinking Large Scale Agricultural Land Acquisition Through a Contract Model

The triumph of capitalism and its impact, post-cold war, is manifest in diverse ways and sites in the global south, especially Africa. Perhaps the most prominent consequence of the post-cold war capitalist strangle-hold is the phenomenon of globalization. In its legal and economic gradient, globalization has yielded unprecedented spate of legal harmonization and capitalist structuring, opening up of markets under the trade liberalization mantra.

US Fails to Block Progress over Genetic Resources Text at WIPO-IGC 36

After six days of deliberations (June 24-29, 2018) to secure a mature text for the protection of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, delegates left the negotiations with mixed feeling while remaining resolute on the progress made. The mixed feeling arose from the decision of the United States and its ally, Japan, not to support the transmission of the resulting text of the negotiations: REV 2 to the 40th IGC as a consensus document pursuant to the ongoing mandate of the IGC for the current biennium.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamJuly 7, 2018Indigenous, USA, Japan, WIPO, Traditional Culture, Africa, Australia

WIPO Expert Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions Takes Another Look at Draft Genetic Resources Text in 2018

For the 35th time in 18 years, experts have yet again gathered at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) headquarters in Geneva where they are scheduled to remain in deliberation between March 19 and 23, 2018. This meeting of the WIPO IGC is at the instance of the body’s renewed mandate for the 2018 and 2019 biennium after it failed, last year, to secure the transition of its draft texts.

Wandering Footloose: Traditional Knowledge and the "Public Domain" Revisited

Journal of World Intellectual Property
Vol. 21, No. 5-6 (2018)

African Leaders' Blackmail of the International Criminal Court

In the last decade, warlordism has been on the decline in Africa. But terrorism and other forms of political combustion appear to be on the rise. Recent and ongoing disturbances across the continent are flashpoints of both Africa's political vulnerability and the continent's political renewal. As Africa engages its current positive, albeit, controversial economic transition, the tail of its political contradictions within a hypocritical world order continues to wag the continent.

Obama, McCain, and Nigeria’s Niger Delta

The Niger Delta: Nothing places Nigeria in the news lately more than the Niger Delta. Indeed, the Niger Delta is synonymous with the instability that Nigeria contributes to global oil supply and, by extension, the current global energy crisis. The Niger Delta now attracts some worrisome lexicon in the global report of news about Nigeria.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamAugust 13, 2008Politics, Nigeria, USA

Genetic Use Restriction (or Terminator) Technologies (Gurts) in Agricultural Biotechnology: The Limits of Technological Alternatives to Intellectual Property

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology
(August 2005)

Achebe: Undeserving of Nigeria: Yes, Indeed!

Again, let me say that I am not readily inclined to draw simplistic comparisons between Nigeria’s political culture and what obtains in long established western democracies. Yet, it borders on the irresistible to, at least, contemplate how much our politicians and so called leaders at different levels of public service get away with. Just a casual reference to a different political culture elsewhere could serve my purpose here.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamNovember 1, 2004Politics, Nigeria, USA

Nigerian Agriculture, Zimbabwean Farmers, and Genetic Modification

We need foreign direct investments (FDI) in Nigeria. In the globalization era, only few would question the need for FDI as part of Nigeria’s strategic economic policy. The Obasanjo government has been passionate about FDI at least on propaganda basis. The unprecedented number of presidential trips associated with the pursuit of FDI attest to government’s desperation. But we know that investors, being the business people they are, make their investment commitments on hard and verifiable facts.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamAugust 6, 2004Agriculture and Biodiversity, Politics, Nigeria, International, Canada, USA

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