By Abdallah el-Kurebe, News Editor
The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has won a case instituted against it by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) over a permit granted for the commercial release of Bt cotton in Nigeria.
Delivering judgement Wednesday, Justice A.R Mohammed of The Federal High Court Abuja dismissed the action on the ground that is was statute barred, noting that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain it.
The Judge who ruled that the matter was not a fundamental rights issue as claimed by the plaintiff, said it was instituted over a year after the cause of action arose.
Reacting to the judgement, the Director General of the Agency, Dr. Rufus Ebegba expressed delight saying the victory was for Nigerians as it was a test for proper regulation of modern biotechnology in Nigeria.
“With this judgement, it has once again been proven that our judicial system is a beacon of hope,” he said.
Ebegba said the Agency remained an umpire in the regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and assured Nigerians that with the Agency on ground, the safety of their health and environment would continue to be priority responsibility.
It could be recalled that HOMEF filed a case joining the NBMA, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Justice, Monsanto, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Ministry of Agriculture and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control on the 13th of September 2017 against the Bt cotton approval for commercial in 2016.
The plaintiff had in their suit prayed the court to render the permit issued by the NBMA invalid and to further restrain NBMA from issuing such permit.
