Senate insists on GMOs thorough regulation, passes bill to committee on environment

In a bit to ensure healthy food consumption and soils management against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) products, the senate presided over by Sen. Ahmad  Lawan has passed to second reading a bill presented to amend some areas of an act provision for National Bio-Safety Management  Agency (NBMA).
This legislative decision was taken last week Thursday at the upper chamber of the National Assembly (NA) where majority members supported the passing of the bill for an amendment of the NBMA for a more diligent and integrity test of GMOs.

The Senate president, Sen. Ahmad Lawan  ordered that the bill for an act to amend the National Bio-Safety Agency act, 2015 and other related matters of 2022 be referred to committee on environment for further legislative actions, and report back in four week.

Speaker after speaker were of the opinions that our environment must be of priority to safety food products and better soil ecosystem management through diligent regulation of GMO seed varieties and other products, saying caution must be upheld in what we allowed into our country through foreign partnership in the interest of our environment and Nigerians health.

Presenter of the bill, the senate leader, Dr. Yahaya Abdullahi stressed the need why the bill for amendment act on NBMA must be supported for more diligent legislation that would make our country zero tolerant to any hazardous product as related to GMOs saying our soils and good health of Nigerians must be well protected with eco-friendly environment.

According to him ‘‘there have not been any conclusive finding regarding overall safety of GMOs on normal lives and environment. So Mr. President, my distinguished colleagues, caution must be our watch words in the handling of the GMOs because even as we speak about sixty countries around the world population have partially or totally ban the use of GMOs’’

The deputy chief whip, Sen. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi speaking in support of the bill said there is need to thread with caution the adoption of the improved technology in a small controllable manner that would be able to easily control through effective regulatory act for the agency in charge.

Abdullahi emphasised the need for protective measure through an act saying that ‘’we must prevent a situation whereby you allow Nigeria to be dumping ground so that our citizens will not be used as millipede. GMO is not a bad thing, but i think our country must have a strong regulatory measures for protection, and i think that this what this bill is out to achieve, and that whatever GMO we want to approve must have gone through very rigorous examination and integrity test’’

Speaking also on the matter, deputy senate leader, Sen. (Prof) Robert Ajayi Boniface pointed that the world growing population in relation to food availability has necessitated the need for improved technology that would go at the pace of growing number of people vis-à-vis foods availability, adding that the affiliated advantages of the GMOs must not be ignored in terms of increased yield per acreage, resistance to diseases and drought.

Boniface said that GMO technology has been an object of global controversy, but added there is need to block areas of loop hole in the existing regulatory act for better performance of NMBA, adding that for the purpose of caution there is need to galvanise the regulatory agency with this amendment bill.

Meanwhile a delegation on biotechnology cum bio-safety team from Ghana has recently visited Nigeria to understudy the successes Nigeria had recorded in the introduction and application of the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) and its associated products for the purpose of knowledge and buying in.

The Director -General (DG) NABDA, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha while receiving the delegation led by the Ghana Executive Officer, National Bio safety Authority (NBA), Mr. Eric Okeree said that Nigeria has recorded huge success in her bid to feed the nation especially with the commercialization of Bt cowpea and farmers’ acceptability with testimonies of wealth creation adding more products were on the way.