GMOs will be labelled for consumers – NBMA Boss

Director General of National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba has said nobody will be forced to use Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and that as it is the responsibility of the agency to ensure the products are safe and that they will be labelled for consumers. 

DrEbegba speaking to journalists at a training session for staffers of the agency organised in conjunction with M&A Global Projects entitled, “Capacity Building for Effective Biosafety Management in Nigeria” in Abuja, said it is most important that they would be able to tell Nigerians what is safe and what is not. 

“The national bio-safety management has what it takes to ensure Nigerians are protected from potential adverse impact of genetically modified organisms,” he said. 

On the training, he said the issue of bio-safety requires constant training and capacity building and thus the staff of the agency needs to be properly trained to enhance officials’ discharge of their responsibility. 

“The issue of bio-safety has been on the front burner. Even the permits granted by the agency last year have been criticized by many environmentalists. NBMA has been taken to court but we are not deterred. There is a need to equip our staff for proper regulation as we will not allow Nigeria to become a dumping ground for unsafe GMO products,” he said.

The team leader of M&A Global Limited Dr Yusuf Hussaini said the aim is to enlighten, develop strengthen the knowledge of the staff of the agency. 

He said many are not in-depth in what GMO is about and see it as something that can lead to cancer or a spread of disease, adding that GMOs genes are extracted to improve the yield of crops and improve efficacy.

On it having negative effect on the environment, DrHussaini said research has not shown that it has any adverse effect on the environment, but that the debate is still ongoing.

 “It may have a long term effect on the environment because they can come and interfere with the wide type of organisms we have in the environment. But the research available so far has not pointed to it having any effect on the environment,” he added.