NABDA DG becomes ICGEB VP

The Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and Nigerian representative on the Board of Governors for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Prof (Mrs.) Lucy  Ogbadu, has been unanimously elected as the new Vice President of the ICGEB while Mr. Viktor Smirnov of Russia emerged as President. The election which […]

The Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and Nigerian representative on the Board of Governors for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Prof (Mrs.) Lucy  Ogbadu, has been unanimously elected as the new Vice President of the ICGEB while Mr. Viktor Smirnov of Russia emerged as President.

The election which took place at the twenty-third session of the organisation’s board of governors’ meeting held between 16th and 17th May 2017 in Trieste Italy, the headquarters of ICGEB. The election became necessary when the outgoing president, Prof Hamdy Abdel Aziz Moursy, from Egypt, announced his desire to step down after the end of the 2017 session, having served as president for 17 consecutive years.

 In a meeting attended by more than 90 participant  from more than 40 members states of the ICGEB, as well as representatives from the European Commission and multilateral organisations like COMSAT, FAO, TWAS,  UNIDO and  WHO, Prof. Ogbadu was nominated for the vice president position by the delegate from  Slovenia, Prof Komel  and subsequently by other delegates from Costa Rica, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Sudan, Kuwait and Algeria. Her election was unanimously upheld by the board in the absence of any other nomination.

The ICGEB is an international, nonprofit research organization. established as a special project of  UNIDO, it became fully autonomous in 1994 and now counts over 60 member states.