The Director General of National Biosafety Management Agency, Dr Rufus Ebegba, has said that Nigeria has been mandated to lead the West African sub-region on biosafety.
Dr Ebegba, who said this while presenting the agency’s score card to the public in Abuja, said it was gratifying that the agency under President Muhammadu Buhari administration has recorded tremendous growth and progress. He said it has been given positions of responsibilities on the sub-continent.
“NBMA has provided for the first time a safe haven for the practice of modern biotechnology, its application and use in Nigeria. Nigeria can now raise its head among nations as a country ready to appropriately key into the use of safe modern technology, a critical factor for economic development,” he said.
Dr Rufus said Nigeria is benefiting from safe modern biotechnology under a legal framework for economic growth, improved agriculture, job and wealth creation, industrial growth and sustainable environment as operators now have confidence in the sector, and risks to human health from modern biotechnology practice and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are at the barest minimum
“Nigeria’s commitment to the principles of international agreements and treaties to Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) is reaffirming, proper regulation for imported GM products, so that the country will not be a dumping ground for GMOs and such other products is assured. Other African countries look up to Nigeria for leadership in biosafety issues,” he said.
