FG to prioritise bio-tech for sustainable food security
The Federal Government has reiterated commitment to deploy genetic engineering and bio-technology to achieve food security in the country. The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, stated this while declaring open a training workshop on Basic Laboratory Training on Living Modified Organisms Detection and Identification in Abuja. Onu emphasized that genetic engineering and […]
The Federal Government has reiterated commitment to deploy genetic engineering and bio-technology to achieve food security in the country.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, stated this while declaring open a training workshop on Basic Laboratory Training on Living Modified Organisms Detection and Identification in Abuja.
Onu emphasized that genetic engineering and bio-technology would boost local production of food and commodities and minimise the need for continuous import, noting that the Federal Government has now recognised its immense importance to the progress of the nation,
“The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology will continue to support the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) in carrying out this very important mandate to help our country, not only in the area of agriculture, but also protecting our environment and in ensuring that the desire of our nation to industrialise rapidly is achieved,” the minister said.
The acting director-general and chief executive officer of the NABDA, Prof. Alex U. Akpa, said Nigeria had embraced bio-technology and genetic engineering for better improvement in crops and animal production.
He said, “We have made significant investments in modern bio-technology to assist in deepening awareness of technology and its impact on national growth and development.”
He remarked that efforts made had yielded remarkable success.
The representative of the executive secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Austein McLoughlin, said cooperation with developing nations would be sustained in a bid to identify the importance of living modified organisms.