NABDA urges Support of Medical Practitioners on Safety of Genetically Modified Organisms

By Ikpefan Loretta

As part of the effort to enlighten Nigerians on the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, has called on medical practitioners support in ongoing efforts to educate Nigerians on the safety of genetically modified organisms.

Prof. Abdullahi, made the call at a one-day sensitization workshop for the medical practitioners held on Wednesday, 2023 in Abuja themed “science, safety and benefits of agricultural biotechnology products”.

Prof. Abdullahi said, “Nigeria is currently facing challenges related to rapid population growth and urbanisation, which necessitate doubling food production by 2050. Nigeria’s agricultural environment is deteriorating, seed varieties perform poorly and capital funding for investments is insufficient. There is also a high level of insect pests and diseases and soil fertility is low. To address these issues, the country requires modern technology for sustainable food production,”

Therefore, he urged the medical practitioners and other critical stakeholders to support the federal government drive in enhancing food productivity and availability by collaborating with NABDA to deepen Nigeria’s biotechnology experience, stating that the country requires modern technology for an increased and sustainable food production.

He noted that it was important that medical practitioners who have daily contact with the people be educated on all the safety gauges put in place by the government to ensure that the deployment of the technology does not harm Nigerians and the environment.

“It is important that medical practitioners are at the forefront of this discussion given the pivotal roles they play in patient care and other essential parts of the country’s healthcare system,” he said.

Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency stated that biotechnology deployment in Nigeria has yielded enormous fruits, given several GM crops that have been successfully developed and commercialized, while a good number of others are at various stages of development.

In her presentation, Director, Department of Agricultural biotechnology at NABDA, Dr Rose Gidado, said the workshop is expected to bridge all existing information gaps between agricultural scientists and medical practitioners on activities of GMOs.

Dr. Gidado stated that scientists through biotechnology have succeeded in the use of living organisms and biological processes in improving life on earth.

She added that the use of biotechnology has become very necessary in almost all sectors of the economy especially in the health sector.

According to her “the application of biotechnology cuts across various fields ranging from medicine to industry, environment and agriculture, among these sectors, agriculture is the most important, because agriculture provides food without which humans cannot survive in addition to serving as the resource factor for other sectors including medicine, industry and environment.”

The one-day sensitization workshop was organized in collaboration with the Program for Biosafety Systems(PBS), African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) National Biosafety Management Agency(NBMA), National Agricultural Seed Council(NASC), National Agricultural Quarantine Service(NAQS), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council(FCCPC).