Tag Archives: biotechnology

Sir Rufus Ebegba, the director-general and chief executive officer of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NABMA), at a meeting held in Abuja to review two applications submitted for the release of genetically-modified (GM) cotton and maize, said Nigerians should prepare to see more GM products in the market to serve as alternative to consumers’ choice. In this interview with Etta Michael ...

Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) are international legal instruments whose goals include environmental protection, which entails measures to remedy, mitigate or otherwise deal with global and/or regional environmental concerns. These agreements are entered into by a considerable number of states or international organisations as Parties, and embodied in a single instrument or more related instruments. On the other hand, the Cartagena Protocol on ...

The European Parliament on Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium voted to oppose the import of three genetically modified (GM) soybeans into the European Union. It said the Commission’s proposed authorisation of GM soybeans MON 87705×MON 89788, FG72 and MON 87708×MON 89788 for use as food and feed was “not consistent with Union law” that aims at a high level of health ...

The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has approached various security agencies including the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) as well as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as part of operational arrangements to enforce its mandate. It will be recalled that the NBMA shortly after its establishment gave a deadline of six months which expired last December to all ...

Federal regulators last Thursday in the US approved a genetically engineered salmon as fit for consumption, making it the first genetically altered animal to be cleared for American supermarkets and dinner tables. The approval by the Food and Drug Administration caps a long struggle for AquaBounty Technologies, a small company that first approached the F.D.A. about approval in the 1990s. The agency made ...

The Federal Government’s determination to diversify the economy as a result of the challenges in the oil sector has set it to develop immutable strategies that would ensure the creation of no fewer than 25,000 jobs annually from the biotechnology sector. A statement by the Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NABMA), Mr. Rufus Ebegba, issued on Tuesday said modern ...

Public support is crucial if any technology is to be accepted and adopted by those who stand to benefit from it, including modern biotechnology which is relatively new in Nigeria.  Etta Michael Bisong, an environmental journalist based in Abuja, writes on the role of the media in strengthening modern biotechnology practices to provide alternative sources of livelihoods in Nigeria. Many Nigerians ...

Rufus Ebegba, Director-General and CEO of the the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), stresses that the recently passed Biosafety Act not only ensures biosafety in the country, but is a safety valve for harnessing the potentials of modern biotechnology safely The development of a national biosafety regulatory framework for Nigeria dates back to 1994 when the first National Biosafety Guidelines ...

Director General/CEO, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Professor Lucy Ogbadu, insists that Biotechnology has been used for more than two decades without a single, documented safety concern, and that Nigeria cannot afford to be left out in the global agricultural biotechnology revolution Nigerian scientists in the field of Biosciences at this particular time in our history are delighted that their nation ...

A group of 11 award-winning experts working across Africa has appealed to governments of the African Union to develop ecological organic agriculture on the continent. The laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, often referred to as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”, who met recently in Cairo in Egypt, signed a joint appeal calling on the African Union Commission and its NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), to implement their roadmap ...