Philip Nyam 
…We’ll Protect Nigerians Interest – Agric Minister
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari has assured Nigerians that the federal government would not in any way promote anything that would endanger the people.
This is even as the GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance comprised of over 200 individuals and groups including farmers, civil society, scientists/researchers, nutritionists, legal practitioners, medical practitioners, women and youth groups have advised the National Assembly to ban the use of genetically modified organism (GMO) expressing concerns on its impact on Nigeria’s food system and as well as on human and environmental health.
Both spoke at the public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Agricultural Production on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The minister said, “The government would not deliberately bring what is poisonous to the people. This forum is meant for searing ideas from the GMOs experts to find a level plane field for food security.
According to him, “There are seed councils and regulatory bodies, research institutes in charge of checkmating seedlings used by farmers hence the need for a collaborative effort”.
But the GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance urged the National Assembly to put a complete ban on GMOs in the country stating that external forces who are behind the introduction of GMOs in Nigeria have fueled insecurity.
According to the consultant to the group, Mr Johnson Ekpere while presenting their memorandum at the public hearing, said that the government must take it as a personal responsibility to immediately declare a policy of no to GMO and GMO distribution and circulation in Nigeria should be halted.
“We would like to see in the interim, while the argument is even going on, a national moratorium declared that even if they are not convinced that the adverse effects which majority of the experts have spoken eloquently to are obvious, even if they still want to go ahead with the investigation, pending when they reach a conclusion, GMO distribution and circulation in Nigeria should be halted.
“While we recognise the government’s efforts at improving food security in Nigeria, the adoption of GMOs as a silver bullet to agricultural challenges is an error. Continuing this path holds serious implications for Nigeria’s food sovereignty, our biodiversity/environmental sustainability, and on our health.
“We recommend a holistic approach to these problems – one that addresses the root causes, ensures food security/food sovereignty, empowers the smallholder farmers who are the mainstay of Nigeria’s agriculture system and builds biodiversity and overall environmental resilience.
“This Memorandum calls on the Nigerian National Assembly to ban GMOs in Nigeria and to instead, invest in Agro ecology comprising Organic Agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture, Agroforestry and other practices that are proven to be able to transform the Nigerian Food system to sustain-ability.
Briefing journalists after the hearing, the Executive Director Center for Food Safety and Agriculture Research, Mr Qrisstuberg Amua said international forces were the reason behind insecurity in Nigeria.
He said: “From Benue state, a food basket that is becoming empty, not because Benue people are not producing food, not because they don’t have GMOs, it’s because ethnic and foreign interests have successfully, and I’m saying this boldly to the media and to Nigerians because I’m a researcher, ethnic interests that are interested in marketing, dumping GMOs, which are agents of mass destruction. These are biological weapons. I’m a professor of bioinorganic chemistry.
“They are pushing insecurity on our nation, sponsoring it clandestinely, and I challenge the national security apparatus to look deeply into, investigate into why our farmers can’t go to farms, only to create a scenario of hunger to advertise genetically modified poisons.
“In agriculture, they are gain-of-function research outcomes. That means these transgenes, are transgenic and can be manipulated to do exactly what they have been manipulated to do.
“Number one, whereas our grandparents were having children, our mothers were having children, 11, 12, 13, today, young Nigerian girls marry, and they are jumping from one fertility clinic to another, struggling to get pregnant”.
