The Senate Committee on Environment has lauded the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) over its modern, state-of-the-art Genetic Modification (GM) Detection and Analysis Laboratory.
The senators made the commendation during an oversight visit to the agency in Abuja recently when they were taken on a tour of the agency’s laboratory.
The chairman, Senate Committee on Environment, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said in such a short time of establishment, the agency has achieved a lot in terms of equipment, personnel and performance.
Senator Tinubu who said the committee came to ascertain the level of performance for the years 2017 and 2018, of the agency’s budget, also commended the Director General/CEO, Dr Rufus Ebegba, for achieving so much in a short time.
Dr Ebegba presented the 2017 and 2018 budget performance to the committee, noting that the essence of the GM detection and analysis laboratory was to ensure that no Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) was allowed into the country without proper verification and authorisation.
He said in 2017, over N243 million was appropriated, about N171million was released and was expended.
Dr Rufus said for 2018, about N258 was appropriated, N25.8 was released and has also been expended so far.
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