Proposed theoretical framework for development of a policy for IK management Nigeria

Abstract

The global economic trends of this century have put the management of knowledge at a level never before seen in human history. While the scope of known science and engineering fields keep shrinking as a result of emerging new frontiers that occasion break-a ways and multi-disciplinary interests, knowledge management as a matter of necessity continues to be on the increase because old knowledge is never thrown away but improved upon to evolve better products and better ways of achieving set objectives. Most African economies have evolved over several millennia and it is interesting to note that the various ethnic nationalities in Africa have been able to overcome the challenges of extinction because of the rich pool of their indigenous knowledge (IK). Indeed, the nations of the continent can emerge as global players faster if efforts are made to better understand and exploit this knowledge pool. This paper looks at the opportunities in the rich IK pool of the Nigerian ethnic nationalities, the possibility of evolving the appropriate intellectual property inherent and proposes a model that will energize the profitable and proper management of IK in Nigeria.