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Chigozirim Victoria Onyeagbako

Chigozirim Victoria

PhD Student

Email: c.v.onyeagbako@qmul.ac.uk

Profile

Thesis Title

Performer’s Rights: The ‘Missing Rib’ in the AfCFTA IP Protocol

Supervisors

Prof. Johanna Gibson

Mr. Gavin Sutter

Summary of Research

The African creative industry plays a key role in its economic development. The film industry alone generates over $5 billion annually. Irrespective of the economic significance of the film industry, performers’ rights remain in its nascent stages on the continent resulting in the impoverishment of actors. The African Union reaffirmed her commitment to attain an inclusive, sustainable economic growth and development for Africa by 2063. As part of efforts to achieve this, a continental integrated market – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – was established. To deepen a culture under this framework that prioritizes African creativity and innovation, an Intellectual Property (IP) Protocol was adopted in 2023.

This thesis aims to examine the implications of the AfCFTA and its IP Protocol on the protection of performers’ rights in the film industry in Africa. The research findings are drawn from a qualitative analysis of existing copyright laws and policies in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, relevant treaties, regional economic communities (RECs) and IP organizations. This research provides an examination of possible implementation frameworks for the protection and enforcement of performers’ rights under the AfCFTA useful for further development of the African film industry.

Biography

Victoria C. Onyeagbako is a Herschel Smith Doctoral Researcher at Queen Mary University London (QMUL). She is an intellectual property (IP) specialist with project management experience in international organizations such as the United Nations under the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Nigeria Office (WNO).

Dedicated to making IP work for economic prosperity in Africa, Victoria actively contributes to IP education, awareness, advocacy, capacity building and development. She is the Founder of MIPLG, a thriving Non-Governmental Organisation on intellectual property in Africa and the Founding Patron of the Nigerian Intellectual Property Club (NIPC) - the national IP body for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.

In over six years of IP practice, she has contributed to IP capacity building, youth engagement, IP development and enforcement in Africa. Victoria has advised startups, companies and individuals on IP portfolio creation, rights management and IP commercialization. She has served as a WIPO Consultant in the WIPO IP Management Clinics (IPMC).

She plays badminton.

Publications

Victoria Onyeagbako and FIP Adeyoju, ‘Revisiting Data Protection, Privacy and State Surveillance’ [2021] Privacy and State Surveillance.

Onyeagbako, V. (2020). Strengthening Copyright Protection in the Nigerian Film Industry (Nollywood). Available at SSRN 4107883.

Onyeagbako, V. (2020). Justifications for Copyright and Patents Protection. Available at SSRN 3596193.

Onyeagbako, V. (2020). Sports and IP: Commentary on the Legal and Enforcement Framework Against Ambush Marketing for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Available at SSRN 3668335.

Studentships

Herschel Smith Scholarship – QMUL

High Achievers Award – NTU

Research

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