Nigeria has maintained its lead as the giant of Africa as it has recorded immense achievements in biotechnology adoption which has made the country a destination for other countries to understudy its workable regulatory and implementation frameworks.
Nigeria’s biosafety framework has over the years proven to be potent in regulating biotechnology activities which can be attributed to the successes recorded in biotechnology deployment.
Nigeria has commercialized two Genetically Modified (GM) crop, namely, the Bt Cotton and the Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea. Also, the country is expecting the commercialization of a transgenic maize called Tela Maize.
There are other crops currently being developed by various research institutes in partnership with the African agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF). These crops include the biofortified Sorghum, the NEWEST Rice and others.
With all these achievements geared towards achieving food security in Nigeria, some African countries have seen Nigeria as a ‘holy’ land where their ‘prayers’ can be answered.
First, Nigeria has hosted Members of the Ghanaian Parliament who came to understudy the country’s biotechnology and biosafety implementation framework, in the same vein, Nigeria played host to Ethiopian and Mozambique delegation who visited for the same reason.
During the visit of the Ghanaian team led by the Chairman Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Emmanuel Marfor, an ‘Eating is Believing’ event was organized by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), with the aim of preparing various delicacies with the PBR Cowpea (beans) variety and allow the public to eat and experience the taste of this new beans variety.
Other high Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on MESTI, Professor Ebenezer Okletey Terlarbi was also on the team.
During the event, the Director General NABDA, Professor Abdullahi Mustapha maintained that biotechnology is a cutting-edge technology of the 21st Century that has proven world -wide to enhance productivity, reduce drudgery, and increase yields and brought about enhancement of food security in agriculture and economic growth.
“Biotechnology has proven its potential to help us overcome agricultural productivity challenges leading to more yield (e.g., 2.9 tons /hectare of Bt cowpea from 350kg of non-Bt cowpea) and addressing various breeding limitations that conventional breeding methods cannot address.
Professor Mustapha used the opportunity to explain that the PBR Cowpea is a classic example of how the technology can provide solutions to one of the major challenges confronting cowpea farming.
He said considering Nigeria’s huge challenge and the desire to feed the populace to ensure food and nutritional security, Nigeria must make technology the engine room for its agricultural development. That way according to him, it can ensure that no African goes to bed hungry.
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation and chairman, Parliamentary Select Committee on Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Parliament House, Accra, Ghana, Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, said the team has come to understand the importance of biotechnology application and how it can impact on the everyday lives of people.
The study tour, he stressed, will help the buy-in, not just only from colleague scientists, but from political class to understand the importance of science and technology to the development of Ghana.
“This helps us to expand our understanding of the things we need to do so that when it comes to oversight, we are better positioned to better provide the right oversight and lobby for budget,” he added.
In his comments, the Chief Executive Officer, National Biosafety Authority (NBA), Ghana, Mr. Eric Okoree, pointed out that Ghana has already put the necessary system in place for the regulation of biotechnology. He said that country passed the Biosafety Act in 2011 and has an independent-minded board to regulate things.
He, however, pointed out that the adoption of the technology is based on sensitization and how much it is understood. He added Ghana is keen on learning how Nigeria scaled the hurdle of public understanding of the technology.
Also the former Director General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba while receiving the Ghanaian delegation in his office, said recognized how important the visit of the Ghanaian Regulatory team is to the regulatory authority in Ghana.
He said that collaborating with their Nigerian Counterpart on the need to strengthen regulations in Ghana and in Africa would strengthen the stipulations of the law establishing the regulatory agency in Ghana.
Dr Ebegba however stated that in the sphere of GM regulation, Nigeria has set a model for the African continent.
“The Agency was not established to stop GMOS but rather to see that whatever results from the technology does not pose threat to human health, Environment, Animals and Plants.”
“The global economy today is driven by science and technology and it is timely that Nigerian is keying into it by ensuring that safety measures are put in place for the deployment of the technology. The government is so proactive to the establishment of NBMA and by implication the Agency stands to prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground for unregulated Genetically Modified Organism (GMOS)”, he said.
Dr Ebegba reiterated the need for the Ghanaian government to extend the scope of the regulatory framework to capture the new emerging technologies such as Gene Editing, Gene drive, and Synthetic biology.
In his remark, the leader of the Ghanaian leader, Dr Emmanuel Marfo echoed the position of Nigeria as a role model for the African continent stating that Nigeria and Ghana have a longstanding relationship and this would further earn both counties synergy that can boast their Economies by way of working together.
He also disclosed that Nigeria has been playing a leading position in Africa and this reflects their level of education, population and personality. He however sought opportunity for Nigerian to impact on the Ghanaian biosafety regulation system.
Chairman National Biosafety Authority in Ghana, Prof. Charles Boasiako noted that indeed Nigeria is a model for other African countries as the guidelines and regulations produced from the Agency has been used by other countries as models for the drafting of the documents.
The Team visited the NBMA’s GM detection and analysis laboratory where they applauded the state-of-the-art equipment and Dr. Ebegba presented the regulatory instruments of the NBMA to the teams.
In another visit, the AATF led a team of Biosafety officials from Ethiopia and Mozambique to Nigeria in order to understudy Nigeria’s biosafety implementation.
The head of Policy of AATF, Dr Francis Nang’ayo who led the team said they visited to see the progress that has been made towards research and development of cowpea that is resistant to insect pests.
“Nigeria as you may know started this journey a little earlier, it went through laboratory research and it went to confined field trial and after that it went through multi-locational trials so that we can know where this GM cowpea can grow best”, he said.
Nang’ayo said the National Biosafety Management Agency was able to look at all the safety issues and they found the cowpea to be safe and it was approved for release.
He said the AATF has been partnering with other institutions like AU-NEPAD and development partners like the USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to work on the aspect of biosafety capacity strengthening.
In doing this, Nang’ayo said the Foundation have been able to prioritise sending regulators from Africa to other countries so that they can see how GM crops have been regulated there in a safe and responsible manner so that they can take those lessons back to Africa.
“We can already see some progress, you can see about 15 years ago only South Africa and Burkina Faso had GM crops in their fields, but now you can see Nigeria has joined, Malawi has joined, Ethiopia, Mozambique and even Kenya, so these efforts have not been in vain”, he added.
Speaking on the areas where the biosafety officials from Ethiopia and Mozambique understudy in Nigeria he said Nigeria started the research a little earlier and went through laboratory and field trial experiments before reaching the level of release.
He said some countries have not moved as fast as Nigeria, so they just want to know what steps, processes Nigeria followed through to get to this level in terms of variety testing before release and commercialization.
In July this year, a delegation from Biosafety Authority in Burkina Faso visited the NBMA to share experiences on biosafety regulation between the two countries while providing an opportunity for exchange of ideas and knowledge.
The leader of the Burkina Faso delegation
Dr. Moussa Savadogo informed the Director-General of the Agency, Dr. Agnes Yemisi Asagbra that Burkina Faso Biosafety Authority is in the process of granting commercialization of some GM crops, and having heard much about Nigeria’s progress, it became pertinent to visit Nigeria for experience sharing.
He referred to the ECOWAS Regional Biosafety Regulation as a key legal instrument that will harmonize West Africa on biosafety regulation, especially as our borders are very porous.
Savadogo also commended Nigeria for being at the forefront on issues of gene editing, and called for the need to formalize partnership between the two countries on biosafety issues.
On her part, the Director-General/CEO, NBMA
Dr. (Mrs) Agnes Yemisi Asagbra, expressed appreciation for their recognizing Nigeria as a reference point on biosafety regulation.
She thanked the AATF for facilitating their visit and assured the delegation that Nigeria is willing to collaborate with them for exchange of ideas and experience sharing.
