On Wednesday December 9, the Nigerian Biosafety bill would be up at the National Assembly for public hearing.
That day, the nation will as it were, have an opportunity to decide for itself, whether or not, to make history as a nation willing to apply science and technology effectively and responsibly in order to achieve food security and sustainable development.
Biosafety became an issue in Nigeria in 2001 when the Federal Government approved a National Policy on Biotechnology for Nigeria; resulting in the creation of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA). With the core mandates of promoting, developing and facilitation of biotechnology activities in the country, the agency needed to explore and exploit the numerous tools and potentials of Biotechnology for the economic growth and prosperity of the nation.
Biotechnology is a cutting-edge technology that is applied in agriculture, health, environment and industry to enhance production and output quality in a tremendous way.
According to the FAO statement of the United Nations at the Codex Alimentarius Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, Biotechnology is any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use
As laudable as biotechnology might be the Federal Government of Nigeria decided that this technology that has the potential to affect lives overtly and covertly must be practised in the safest and most responsible manner and as a result, went ahead to set up a biosafety framework that serves as a regulatory body under the Federal Ministry of Environment
According to Prof. Bamidele Solomon, Director-General, NABDA, biotechnology is not presented as a panacea to all agricultural needs, but rather, as a tool that has the potentials to complement existing conventional methods to boost productivity and wealth creation.
Though, Biotechnology and its application, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become the target of a very intensive and, at times, emotionally charged debates, safety assessment reports on the technology by internationally acclaimed health and safety organizations like the world Health Organisation (WHO) show that these foods are safe.
According to the WHO, all genetically modified (GM) foods are subjected to rigorous safety assessments to ascertain their safety status or otherwise before releasing them to the market for public consumption. So far, there has not been any record of risk to health or attack resulting from the use of genetically modified foods.
As one of the first countries to sign the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in 2000 and its Instrument of ratification in 2002, the Nigerian government set up the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) supervised by the Federal Ministry of Environment as a regulatory body for biotechnology activities in Nigeria . The NBC is a compendium of experts from different Government and Non-governmental Agencies on environmental, health, science and even security matters.
The NBC drew up a biosafety framework for Nigeria , which currently is a Bill with the National Assembly. Having gone through two readings at the House of Representatives, the Bill awaits a public hearing which comes Wednesday.
On that day, the entire world looks to see Nigeria show itself as a country serious about her needs for food security needs, sustainable development and poverty alleviation which are issues which safe and responsible practice of biotechnology(biosafety) seeks to address.
The general public and indeed all patriotic Nigerians are called upon, according to Director- General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Prof Bamidele Solomon, to support the passage of this crucial bill into law.
When passed to law, the country is adequately positioned to control and regulate biotechnology activities according to approved global standards. With these standards in place, Multi-national biotechnology companies will be able to come in to legally do business in Nigeria . Research and development grants and opportunities which in the past had been inaccessible due to lack of enabling facilities and capacity would be very easily available.
Countries like China , India , Brazil , Argentina , formerly rated as developing nations have taken advantage of this new and relevant technology to turn around their economies thereby emerging as the world’s newly developed nations of today. Even in Africa, countries like South Africa , Egypt , Kenya and even Burkina Faso are ahead of Nigeria in reaping the business potential that biotechnology offers today.
Copyright © 2009 Nigerian Compass News.
