TRADE SECRETS UNDER NIGERIAN LAW: AN APPRAISAL OF COMMON LAW PRINCIPLES IN THE ABSENCE OF DEDICATED LEGISLATION

Abstract

Trade secrets constitute one of the most commercially significant yet systematically neglected branches of intellectual property law in Nigeria. In the global knowledge economy, the security of commercially valuable information — encompassing formulas, processes, algorithms, customer databases, and technical know-how — is a prerequisite for innovation, foreign direct investment, and competitive economic development. Nigeria, however, possesses no dedicated trade secrets statute. Despite its membership of the World Trade Organization since 1995 and its binding obligations under Article 39 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the country's intellectual property framework remains conspicuously silent on trade secrets, leaving right-holders dependent on the English common law doctrine of breach of confidence and fragmentary contractual arrangements. This article identifies five structural problems arising from this legislative vacuum: a definitional void that introduces legal uncertainty; a remedial deficit that renders enforcement costly and unpredictable; evidentiary challenges compounded by unsettled standards for digital evidence; the absence of specific criminal liability for trade secret misappropriation; and profound societal consequences that fall disproportionately on small and medium enterprises, indigenous communities, women innovators, and technology start-ups. Employing a doctrinal methodology that analyses primary legal materials — statutes, case law, and international instruments — alongside comparative and socio-legal analysis, the article critically appraises the common law framework against the legislative models of the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. It concludes that the common law framework is structurally incapable of meeting the demands of a modern, inclusive innovation economy, and that the enactment of a dedicated Nigerian Trade Secrets Act is both legally necessary — to fulfil Nigeria's TRIPS obligations — and morally urgent, given the disproportionate burden the legislative gap places on the most economically vulnerable actors in Nigeria's innovation ecosystem. Ten specific legislative and institutional recommendations are proffered.