The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has reiterated its commitment to the proper regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria in order to ensure food safety and protect the health of citizens and the environment.
NBMA Director-General Rufus Ebegba made this assurance while addressing journalists in Abuja, stating that the agency is dedicated to ensuring that only safe and approved genetically modified seeds and grains for human consumption and feed processing are allowed into the Nigerian market.
The NBMA was established under the National Biosafety Management Agency Act of 2015, with the mission to provide a regulatory framework to adequately safeguard human health and the environment from the adverse effects of modern biotechnology and its products while harnessing its potentials for the benefit of Nigerians.
Ebegba called on Nigerians to be aware of the agency’s role in the proper regulation of GMOs, adding that in order to ensure issues of biosafety were not being relegated to the backseat in Nigeria, the agency had maintained close relations with its national and international affiliates.
“I want to use this medium to assure Nigerians that the federal government through the Agency is doing everything possible to ensure that we are all safe.
“Let me say this categorically that whatever the Agency says is safe is indeed safe. Nigerians should learn to trust the federal government and allow the Agency to do what will be in their best interest. Nigerians need not be afraid as their health and well-being are paramount in the mind of the Agency as they relate to Biosafety,” Ebegba emphasized.
