The National Biotechnology Management Agency (NBMA) is an organisation of the Federal Government positioned to regulate and ensure safe use of biotechnology in the country. Since its inauguration, it has faced lots of controversies concerning Nigeria’s readiness for such new technology. In this interview with Olugbenga Adanikin, the NBMA Director-General, Sir Rufus Ebegba sheds some light on activities of the agency and why biotechnology should be adopted, especially for increased food production.
Can you give a brief summary of the activities of the National Biotechnology Management Agency (NBMA)?
The establishment of the NBMA specifically is to ensure safety in the application of modern biotechnology ýand to ensure that Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) do not have adverse impact on the conservation
and serene view of the biodiversity, taking into account the risk to human health. As such, there are so many research institutes in Nigeria. There are about 20 of them; universities, the NBMA and the private sector will be very active in this field. As such, the agency needs to be very proactive. The issue of GMO is a very sensitive matter, so we need to be on top of what we are doing. That is, protecting us to ensure our mandate is achieved and Nigeria gets benefit from that sector safely.
GMO has been a hot controversy of debates. Some are pushing for its acceptance while others are totally against it. How would you react to this?
GMOs are derived from technology known as genetic engineering or modern biotechnology. This is a new field that is about 20 years old. There is no doubt that when there is new technology like this; people are
bound to be worried. However, my only concern is that there is a lot of misinformation by a group of people creating fears in the minds of Nigerians, which indeed is very unfortunate. It is very clear that no individual can pretend to protect Nigerians more than the government. Government has put this agency in place; there is a law and there are procedures for the deployment of the technology followed even before GMOS are consumed or released for any purpose. Risk assessment will be carried out to ascertain whether there are any adverse impacts on health or environment. I expected that anyone who has doubts should visit any relevant government agency like ours to find out what the situation is. Nigerians should also learn to trust the government and the system because a situation where people doubt everything and cast aspersions on government institutions is indeed unfortunate. I think we must avoid this so that Nigerians can take the best advantage of what government has put in place without anybody being hurt. The agency is well positioned to do the job. We have a GM detection lab to analyse any GMO before it is being used for any purpose. We also have well-trained personnel within and outside this country. So with all these in place, I think no one should be afraid of GM foods. More so, GM foods are not manufactured. They are not synthetic materials. They are just normal plants or animals that have been improved upon through technology to achieve a particular purpose. The essence is that you identify a particular gene, or a particular trait, character from any organism and you are able to move that particular gene to another organism, so that that organism
inherits that trait – that is simply GM.
How true is the allegation that the Nigerian market is being flooded with GMO?
GMO that we have presently in the world are not as many as people assumed that they are all GM. We have one that is disease resistant, pest resistant and herbicide tolerant such as maize, soy bean, kanola and cotton. These are the major ones we currently have and the idea that all the Nigerian market is flooded with GMO such as the maize, oranges, mangoes is not true. They are not GM. Though we have what is called GM suspects, particularly those that have been imported from America, Belgium and other countries, but what you have on the streets are not GM. The idea that GM can cause cancer is not right. World organisations such as the World Health Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Codex body; ý have not found anything hazardous in the use of GMO. Not minding that position, Nigeria will ensure that everything is well tested before they are used for any purpose. Nigerians need not be afraid. The agency is there to protect their interest. We must know too that Nigeria is not in isolation of international communities. Those who feel they have information to give to us should come to the agency; we are ready to listen to everyone. They need to be guided. We must understand that this thing is governed by science, basic and sound science. We don’t just listen to illusions or sentiments ýon issues of bio-safety. Bio-safety is regulated using sound science. We will continue to do what is best for this country. Nigeria’s interest is what its paramount.
There are reports that other crops cannot survive in about few meters radius of where GM crops are planted?
Let me just make this clarification. Such allusion is never true. When you modify something that is disease resistant, what has that got to do with the soil? When you modify a crop for nutrient enhancement, what has that got to do with the soil? These are basic things. Even with GMOs like disease resistant and pest resistant, fewer chemicals are used. So it is the chemicals that sometimes, affect the soil and water bodies but when there is less chemicals in the use of GMO, you can be rest assured. It is even more environmentally friendly than most of the conventional crops that you have to use heavy chemicals on. So the idea that it destroys the soil or whatever is close to it is not true. There is no scientific evidence to support it.
What role does GM play in Nigeria’s drive to increase food production?
Safe GMO no doubt can be used to develop the agricultural sector, provided it is safe. That is what we project in the NBMA. We are not actually interested in promoting the technology but the safety aspect
is of importance. We know that with safe biotechnology, we can achieve better productivity in the agricultural sector.
What’s your position on the alleged wrong issuance of certificate to Mosanto on weekend?
I have tried to shed light on this when this controversy started but let me use this opportunity. What we did was an effective date from 1st May, 2016. That is what is written there. It is a validity period. There are two applications; the two of them were from 1st May, 2016. Again, when people are appointed in the civil service, they start with 1st of January. That date could be public holiday, Saturday or Sunday. It’s just a period. So the idea of saying we sat down and approved this thing on Sunday….Why should we be hasty in going to work on Sunday because of the approval. This was an application we got from October last year and we took decision in May, 2016. That is about seven months. When that was done, it was put in our website for public knowledge. If it is something we wanted to hide or have some ulterior motive, we won’t put it in the public for the public to know. So in such thing, there was no intention for any malicious act. It is a validity period and effective from 1st of May, 2016.
How would you describe a situation where different scientists are of different views on GMO?
In a situation where the whole world is confused, there are authorities who can really clarify issues. The world is no longer in isolation, it’s a global village. We have the United Nations; if the GM foods are harmful as said, do you think the UN will keep quiet and allow people eat them? No. During Ebola crisis, the whole world came together and said we must fight it. It even affected Africa but other parts of the world came together and fought it. The World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are in support. If any scientist has a very faulty result, definitely he would come out with such faulty information and mislead people. Right now, there are sound authorities, about 107 Nobel laureates who faulted those who are misleading people that they are wrong. They asked people to change their mindset and allow people embrace the safe technology. Science is discovery, if people discover wrong information, they will come up with wrong information but there are ways the right information can be discovered.
What are the precautionary measures?
Some have argued that there are no precautionary principles in the Act. I don’t understand. The law itself is the precaution Nigeria has taken and content of the law is very clear. Don’t do this if it’s not safe, do this if it’s safe. What else do you want? Do you expect the National Assembly (NASS) to have written precautionary principles? They should read the Act and know that it is very sound and adequate. Nigeria’s law is one of the best. It took about 13 years before it came to light. We did not just sit down, we had various stakeholders meeting. I know they have been looking at the issue of law of thoughts, issue of liability and redress. The Act was very clear, to address matters arising from damages caused by GM foods. They should read the Act. They should not just base their actions on assumption. Nigeria is much advanced even though we are just starting the process. We must not doubt the competence of what Nigerians can gain. Nigeria is even helping the global system to reshape the Catalina protocol in the area of risk assessment. If Nigeria can be recognised by the UN to be involved at that level, why doubt what you have?
As a man who is faced with these challenges, how do you intend to address the situation?
What is going on is just a wind that is blowing. It will pass. Nigerians are getting better informed. We will continue to do our best. Nigerians should be patient and seek knowledge from the right source not from the black market.
