THE CASE FOR INTEGRATING COPYRIGHT LAW WITH THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN NIGERIA AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

[Samuel W. Ugwumba] Abstract: The commitment to ensure access to education, particularly in developing countries, is a developmental imperative. Lack of education is life-threatening and, if there was any doubt, this is clear from the numerous studies that show a positive correlation between education and other development components. The sad reality, however, is that available data shows a growing crisis of access to education in developing countries exacerbated by socio-economic inequalities and legal obstacles. Particularly, the regime of copyright law, as a market institution, poses challenges to the achievement of education, a non-market good and a developmental imperative. Yet, there is very little analysis in many DCs on the interface between copyright and access to education, preferring instead to see the regime of copyright on a narrow legalistic normative lens that privileges wealth-maximization and undermines the value of access to education.