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By Chinyere Anyanwu
The Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, has expressed hope that the next five years, would see the agency emerge as very strong African brand.
Ebegba, who said this during a two-day stakeholders meeting recently in Abuja to review the draft national guidelines on genetically modified fish, trees, animals and mosquitoes, stated that the essence of subjecting the documents to stakeholders’ review was to ensure that the documents are strong enough to aid in the regulation of new and emerging technologies and to ensure that Nigeria and the NBMA are prepared when the need to check for the safety of these new technologies emerge.
“NBMA is the competent national authority for biosafety matters in Nigeria, putting in place necessary measures to ensure biosecurity and provide a regulatory framework to adequately safeguard human health and environment from its potential adverse effect.
“The stakeholders review of GM fish, trees and mosquitoes is to ensure a holistic document that is easy to understand and comprehend by the public, stakeholders and those wishing to carry out these activities in Nigeria.
“We want to always be on top of our game on any issue concerning biosafety in Nigeria and this guideline will aid in driving the process of biosafety issues in Nigeria.
“We constantly train our staff to be competent enough to drive the affairs of the Nigerian biosafety system. Striving to continually be on top in the biosafety space, we give room for growth by training and retraining the NBMA staff as they are eager to learn from stakeholders and other experts in the field. Learning is a dynamic process so also biosafety,” Dr. Ebegba said.
He also reiterated the agency’s readiness to ensure safety of food and environment in the country.
In a remark, representative of AUDA-NEPAD, Samuel Timpo, commended NBMA for its activities which is aligned with the African Union.
Timpo lauded NBMA for its diversity and teamwork having deemed it fit to collaborate with stakeholders in all its guidelines review.
