Nigeria sets standard for Africa in GMOs regulation – NBMA’s Director-General

The Director-General (DG), National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, says Nigeria sets the standard for the African continent in the regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Ebegba spoke on Thursday in Abuja while welcoming a team of regulators from Ghana’s Biosafety Management Authority who came to understudy NBMA’s success story in biosafety management.

The DG assured Nigerians that the agency would continue to ensure safety standards in the regulation of GMOs.

“The Agency was not established to stop GMOs but rather to see that whatever results from the technology does not pose a threat to human health, environment, animals, and plants,” he said.

Ebegba said that GMOs in Nigeria are safe adding that the agency ensures that GMOs are kept in a safe environment.

“The global economy today is driven by science and technology and it is timely that Nigeria is keying into it by ensuring that safety measures are put in place for the deployment of the technology.”

“The government is so proactive to the establishment of NBMA and by implication, the agency stands to prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground for unregulated Genetically Modified Organisms,” he said.

The DG said that the collaboration among government agencies, departments, and ministries had been effective, especially in the area of information and teamwork.

Ebegba expressed the need for the Ghanaian government to extend the scope of a regulatory framework to capture the new emerging technologies such as gene editing, gene drive, and synthetic biology.

In his speech, Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, Chairman of Ghana’s Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Science and Technology commended the activities of NBMA in Nigeria.

“We have toured the facility and seen the activities and are happy with what we have seen,” Marfo said.

He urged NBMA to continue in its line of regulations to ensure the safety of food in the country.

In his speech, the chairman of Ghana’s Biosafety Management Authority, Prof. Charles Boasiako commended Ebegba for his comprehensive presentation.

Boasiko also lauded the DG for educating the visitors on the regulatory and approval processes in the NBMA.