Environmentalist Bassey Urges Nigerians to Reject GMOs, “Food Colonialism”
Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, executive director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), and renowned environmental activist, has reiterated his call on Nigerians to reject genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and what he described as “food colonialism” in the country.
GMOs are genetically modified organisms – plants, animals, or microorganisms whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering, a process that involves inserting genes from one organism into another to introduce a desired trait.
Speaking at National Symposium on GMOs in Abuja, Bassey, said that food insecurity in Nigeria and Africa is a complex issue rooted in underlying social and economic challenges including farmer-herder clashes, banditry, poverty, inequality, inflation, and climate change.
Bassey described the government’s resort to GMOs as a quick-fix solution, adding that despite nearly three decades of GMO introduction globally, these technologies have failed to reduce hunger or improve food security.
Speaking on the legislative and institutional framework, Bassey condemned the 2015 National Biosafety Management Agency Act and its expansion in 2019, which opened the doors to GMOs, gene editing, and synthetic biology without adequate regulation.
He expressed displeasure over the overlapping roles of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), stressing that their close relationship undermines effective regulation and promotes biased policy focused narrowly on biotechnology, especially GMOs.
According to him, “GMOs represent a subversion of Africa’s food systems, perpetuating colonial control by concentrating power in foreign corporations and eroding indigenous knowledge and seed sovereignty.”
He also warned that reliance on genetically engineered seeds forces farmers into dependence on multinational companies and undermines traditional farming practices that have preserved ecological balance and crop diversity for centuries.
Bassey, while citing examples like the 2024 crisis faced by Nigerian cotton farmers and Tanzania’s success in achieving food sufficiency without GMOs by supporting local farmers and organic agriculture, urged policymakers to focus on strengthening local agricultural systems rather than embracing potentially harmful technologies.