The Director General, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the amended National Biosafety Management Agency Act, aimed at expanding regulatory scope of the agency.
In a statement signed by the Head of Press Unit, Mrs Gloria Ogbaki and made available to Newsdiaryonline Thursday, Ebegba said the signed amendment “would enlarge the scope of application of the act by including emerging aspects of modern biotechnology and biosecurity in Nigeria.”
According to him, the NBMA amendment Bill, which was initiated by the House of Representatives in 2018 was passed by the 8th National Assembly.
“The assent by President Buhari will empower NBMA to put in place measures to ensure Bio-Security in the country with a view to preventing any adverse effect to human health and environment.
“Due to emergence of new technologies, Nigeria cannot be left behind in checking if these technologies are safe for humans and the environment
“It is the mandate of the Agency to ensure that modern biotechnology and its products are safe.
“The agency has been on its toes in ensuring that unapproved genetically modified crops either grain or seed for food and feed is not allowed into our market and with this new amendment, the agency will work hard to ensure that Nigeria is a safe haven.
“We shall police and regulate the practice of this new and emerging technologies as much as possible so that our country does not become a dumping ground for unsafe products,” the statement read.
He said the amendment had expanded the scope of regulation of NBMA provided in the 2015 act, to now provide regulatory framework to adequately safeguard human health and the environment.
“From potential adverse effects of modern biotechnology and genetically modified organisms, while harnessing the potentials of modern biotechnology and its derivatives for the benefit of Nigerians to include the areas of synthetic biology, Genome editing, Gene drive and biosecurity,” he added.
