CSOs reject GMOs in Nigeria, seek urgent review of NBMA Act

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have rejected the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) crops in Nigeria, insisting that the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) Act 2015 (as amended in 2019) should be reviewed to close the existing gaps and ensure that it protects the interests of Nigerians.

The CSOs, which comprise the GMO Free Nigeria Alliance, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), We the People and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), made the demand yesterday at a media briefing in Lagos.

Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey and Programmes Manager, Joyce Ebebeinwe-Brown, who spoke in company of other activists, tasked the National Assembly to review the law, adding that HOMEF has drafted a review of the Act.

Bassey specifically lamented that Nigerians were being ambushed into accepting what they practically knew nothing about, insisting that GMOs do not necessarily guarantee increase in crops yield.

“The unrelenting push for the adoption of genetic engineering technology in crop breeding and animal production has heightened biosafety concerns with regard to human, animal and environmental health as well as the socio-economic well-being of our local food producers.

“Nigeria’s move to join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) through the hurriedly developed and the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Bill further compound the problems, as provisions in the law stifle the rights of small-holder farmers, who produce the bulk of the food in the country,” they said.

“The PVP Bill, which President Muhammdu Buhari had signed into law, among many other issues, criminalises our farmers if they duplicate or share seeds registered under the law. Although the proponents of the bill insist that GMOs will not creep into the food system, as part of the new plants varieties, there are provisions in it that highlight the contrary,” they said.

Insisting that Section 10 of the Act should be reviewed to exclude promoters of GMOs in the governing board of the NBMA, they said permits already granted for importation and use of GMOs in the country should be withdrawn to avoid the intended and unintended implications for the health of Nigerians, environment and the economy.

“Nigeria has vast human and natural resources. With adequate support for our small-scale farmers in terms of infrastructure, timely credit schemes, extension services, access to land and irrigation services, among others, Nigeria can increase productivity, reduce waste and strengthen the economy,” the groups added.

They explained that the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol should be domesticated by enactment in line with Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), saying this would eliminate legal limitations in the implementation of biosafety norms in the country.

Among other recommendations, they said: “The government should discourage the use of inorganic fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, especially roundup ready and the glyphosate containing formulations, which have negative impacts for human health and ecosystem balance.”