GMO seeds biological warfare against Nigeria, by GPA

By Bianca Iboma-Emefu

The Federal Government’s decision to introduce genetically modified crops has sparked outrage across the country. Some experts and agripreneurs said that, by so doing, the country’s food sovereignty is being compromised as the nation’s agricultural future is threatened.

According to the Global Prolife Alliance (GPA), the introduction of genetically modified crops is a biological warfare against the country. It, therefore, called for a thorough investigation, stressing that there are issues of conflict of interests.

As far as the group is concerned, it is the deception of biofortification to capture food security of the nation.

In a statement signed by its chairman, Dr. Phillip Njemanze, the group said: “On Sunday, May 1, 2016, as all Nigerians were in the church for worship of God, the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) at a hotel premises, in gross violation of extant laws in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, issued permits for market release of GMO Bt Cotton and field trials of GMO maize in Nigeria. Following the public outrage, there was a false declaration by the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, that there are no genetically modified organisms (GMO) officially grown in Nigeria.

“On June 22, 2016, we were able to buy GMO yellow cassava, GMO potatoes, GMO maize at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, which remain available for sale at several sites.”

The GPA alleged that some organizations have falsely claimed that the rationale for use of GMO cassava is the biofortification of cassava with vitamins, minerals and protein! They cite the papers from  the BioCassava Plus Programme, titled: Biofortification of Cassava for Sub-Saharan Africa by Sayre RT et al. published in Annual Review of Plant Biology. In this paper, it was emphasized that the biofortification cassava plus project increased protein content of cassava. Part of it reads: “Total protein content of storage roots harvested from zeolin-expressing plants reached between 10% and 12.5% dry weight, an approximately fourfold increase. Transgenic biofortification of the starchy staple cassava (Manihot esculenta) generates a novel sink for protein. PLoS ONE 6:1–9). It added that this paper has been retracted from scientific literature as scientific forgery.

The GPA further said: “Furthermore, the much touted biofortification with vitamin A, does not consider the kinetics of loss of vitamin A under heat effects in the preparation of the flour garri. There is virtually no dietary value of vitamin A in garri from this biofortification cassava plus due to the effects of heat during preparation.

“A frequent argument made by proponents of GMOs crops is that, they give a higher yield. They do this deceptively by showing large tubers of yam or cassava, of course grown with large amount of fertilizer not added to natural cassava. However, what they do not say is that, overall yield per acre of GMO is lower than the natural variants. Furthermore, large tubers of yam are wasteful, since most families can only take a little at a meal, leaving the rest to rot away or eaten by rats.

“A careful review of the literature would reveal that, the overall yield with GMOs crops is lower than natural crops. A recent work published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability by Jack Heinemann, a professor of genetics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand found that in the United States from 1986 to 2011, the average yields of GMO corn was lower than corn yields over the same period in western Europe, where GMO corn are not allowed.

“What then is the sense behind the biofortification cassava plus programme? The Global Prolife Alliance along with all other experts from civil societies and environmental groups assert that the main goal of the racist detractors of Nigeria and the entire Black Africa is to capture the food security of Nigeria and Black Africa.

“They want to replace all our staple foods and fruits with their GMO variants of yellow cassava, yellow and white maize, yellow yam, sweet potatoes, millet, sorghum, rice, beans and so-called GMO hybrid tomatoes. This process is on-going in all Black African countries, with particular interest in Nigeria and Kenya.  Black Africa is heading for a complete and final extermination! 

“The racist groups from international biotechnology conglomerates with their deceptive foreign aid foundations fronted by local billionaires are using institutions within Nigeria and in partnership with corrupt government officials to capture the food security of Nigeria.”

Maintaining that a biological warfare has been declared against Nigeria, the group called for a thorough investigation. It said that some investors in biotech companies own a private army that allegedly has link to terrorism.

The GPA added: “The important issue for national security is the fact that the so-called Boko Haram attacks were targeting killing farmers and destruction of farming communities. About 5.5 million people became Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Nigeria. The resettlement programme is still on-going. These farmers are now receiving seeds for planting that are GMO seeds distributed by the same ‘international partners’.

“As a result, the entire Northeast food basket of Nigeria are now dependent on GMO seeds from proxy companies, including those from India under the false labelling of improved seedlings. The deception is to hide the essence of the Boko Haram crises and so-called Fulani herdsmen, which is to capture the food security of Nigeria by the international biotechnology conglomerates.

“Similar approaches are being used in East Africa with a name change to Al-Shabab. All terrorists are equipped with heavy weaponry not even available for sale to Nigeria or Kenya. Africans need to wake up because they are held between the teeth of deadly lions seeking their extermination.

“Why is this biological warfare? The attempt to use GMOs to capture the food security of Black Africa is in breach of the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act (BWATA) 1989. The relevant sections of the law include Sections 175 on ‘Prohibition with respect to biological weapons’ and Section 178 on ‘Definition’ of ‘biological agent’ that includes Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that cause disease and deterioration of food and environment, vaccines used as toxins that cause disease in humans particularly Black Africans, also including pollution the environment.

“Under Section 176 2 (b) of BWATA, there is forfeiture and seizure of property which constitutes means (including financial) that facilitates the delivery of biological agents. BWATA is an international treaty and there is extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under these sections of BWATA committed by or against a national of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  Trials in many African countries are warranted to uncover the widespread plot and those implicated in different countries.

“Nigerian government officials, persons and groups ‘concerned’ or not, must bear in mind that, facilitating the biological warfare by these international conglomerates constitutes a treasonable felony under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Proffering solution, GPA stated: “We must ban all GMOs in Nigeria. All fields with GMO crops disguised as hybrids or improved seedlings must be destroyed by government and the soil replacement undertaken. All imports, transit and cultivation must be forbidden. We must overhaul the NRCRI, IITA and NBMA.

“The Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Federal Ministry of Environment have to be reshuffled to ensure that the personnel connected with facilitating the work with enemies are removed. We must impose jail terms on those directly involved in illegally bringing in the GMOs seeds from the past administration to present.

“We must take a national stand to develop our own biotechnology industry and focus on plant and animal disease prevention. We must urge for refocusing of the strategies of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to exclude promotion of GMOs in Africa.”

On the backlash to expect, GPA said: “We should expect that plant diseases would be unleashed by detractors of Nigeria as they did recently with the tomatoes Tuta absoluta moth. We should prepare remedies for cassava mosaic virus and other plant viruses. We must bring these issues to African Union for a collective strategy. We must take the matter before the UN Security Council. We must be bold and fearless because this is an existential fight for the lives of all our people.”