Nigeria has joined the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) as the 80th member of UPOV.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed Nigeria’s instrument of accession to the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, and Nigeria will become a member of UPOV on 27 March 2025.

Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBRs), also known as plant variety protection, are intellectual property rights intended specifically to protect new varieties of plants. They offer legal protection to plant breeders for the investment made in breeding and developing new varieties of plants. The objective of UPOV is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection for plant breeders, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.

In May 2021, the Plant Variety Protection Act 2021 (the Act) was signed into law in Nigeria, and on 27 August 2021, UPOV reaffirmed Nigeria’s conformity with the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention. See Nigeria: Plant Variety Protection Act 2021.

RELATED: Nigeria: Plant variety protection

The PVP Act establishes a Plant Variety Registry housed within the National Agriculture Seed Council (NASC). However, Regulations have not been finalised to give effect to the Act and it is currently not possible to file Plant Breeders’ Rights in Nigeria. We are waiting for further information as to when the Regulations will come into effect, and NASC is operational and ready to receive plant variety applications.

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