Civil Society Organisations Commend The National Assembly

The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has praised the National Assembly for considering a bill which would review the National Biosafety Management Act for the safe consumption of food within the country.

The organisations, which consisted of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and many others, applauded the Senate for considering the piece of legislation.

Read Also: “Nigeria Will Not Be A Dumping Ground For GMOs,” Says National Biosafety Management Agency

Nnimmo Bassey, the HOMEF Director, said that the move “is a huge milestone towards defending the rights of Nigerian citizens to safe food and environment.” He further added that promoting food safety and security was a mandate that “rests not just on the Biosafety Management Agency, but also on the entire public, and thus public opinion must be duly considered in decision-making processes concerning genetically modified organisms (GMOs).”

Director Bassey observed that Nigeria shared extensive land borders with other countries and GMOs allowed into the most populous black nation “are invariably being introduced to these neighbouring nations without the knowledge of their farmers.”

Read Also: Nigeria: Groups Protest Genetically Modified Crops, Harmful To Human Consumption

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of CAPPA, stressed that “those who are saddled with the duty of protecting our food must look away from the industrial yield-output paradigm and adopt a more integrated systems approach to food and agriculture that takes into consideration many factors, including local food security and sovereignty.”