Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have conveyed their readiness to continue to work with the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) in the regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). This is to ensure that the practice of modern biotechnology does not pose any harm to humans and the environment.
The MDAs made the assertion during an awareness seminar for key policy and decision makers for the validation of national biosafety mainstreaming strategy in Abuja recently.
The Director General of NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, said the mainstreaming of biosafety into national systems would further strengthen the agency network of regulation for a functional biosafety system in Nigeria.
Dr Ebegba said henceforth, any product that contains genetically modified ingredients without biosafety certification will not be allowed to be sold, imported, planted or used in Nigeria without the permit of the agency.
“We require every government agency that deals with related products to demand for biosafety certification before they process such materials. We have realized quite number of food substances in the country that contain genetically modified ingredients,” he said.
“In our drive to mainstream biosafety, we have so far signed MoU with your institutions; we have also identified your legislations/policies as entry points, which were analyzed, and the areas for mainstreaming identified during the draft desk study development, which was a product of your inputs.
“It is from your inputs that the mainstreaming strategy is been developed. Therefore, the purpose of our gathering here is to review the strategy and to finally validate it for operationalization,” he said in his welcome remarks.
The director, Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services of the Federal Ministry of the Agriculture, Dr Dooshima Kwange, said it was the hope of the ministry that the validated document would guide the activities of the stakeholders on biosafety in their domain.
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