Revisiting GM foods in Nigeria

At  about the middle of this year, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Akinwumi  Adesina presented his ministry’s score card to Nigerians, and used the ceremony to inform Nigerians that the country would start the importation and use of genetically modified food products from 2014.The announcement was greeted with an uproar from activists and those opposed […]

At  about the middle of this year, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Akinwumi  Adesina presented his ministry’s score card to Nigerians, and used the ceremony to inform Nigerians that the country would start the importation and use of genetically modified food products from 2014.
The announcement was greeted with an uproar from activists and those opposed to the deployment of the technology in Nigeria. According to them, the country was already blessed with arable land, and there was no need to infect God’s gift to us with bacteria  and viruses which the country lacked the capacity to handle.
The  fear  to some was well founded, while others have a different opinion, saying that all technologies, like change, are met with stiff opposition at  their introduction, no matter its benefit  to humanity.
They cited  the aeroplane, computers and cars,  as some of the technological developments  which were initially opposed, but today people cannot do without them.
Background:
The introduction of issues of GM in Nigeria has been on for a while, but remarkably in 2007 stakeholders met and articulated a piece of legislation under the auspices of the biosafety bill,  and forwarded same to the national assembly. In 2009, the House of Representatives passed the bill after so much back and forth. The same bill was also passed by the Senate in 2011, shortly before the expiration of the 6th national assembly.
Since 2011, the bill has been on Mr President’s desk waiting for his assent, but sources at the Presidency said the bill was returned to the national assembly last week, in preparation for the needed legal guideline for the commencement of importation and use of genetically modified organisms, as promised by the Agriculture Minister.
As at of today, two researches on genetically modified cowpea and cassava are on-going in Nigeria, while preparations are on for the introduction of research on GM rice.
Results from the trials of the cowpea research which is held at the Agricultural Research Institute, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has advanced, and it is being  duplicated in Ghana, under a joint project supported by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation.
At a debate organised recently by Africasti.com featuring experts from the universities, the Nigerian Academy of Science and Friends of the Earth, one of the Non-governmental organisations in forefront of the campaign that Nigeria does not need GMO, a conscious effort was made by those in support or against the technology ,to explain to Nigerians why we should or shouldn’t deploy the technology.

Prof. Oyewole Tomorri, President, Nigerian Academy of Science said that scientifically, genetic modification was an evolving aspect of science that was still being studied, and that since its debut, GM has attracted so many enemies doubting its efficacy, but that does not mean the technology is bad or injurious to human and the environment.
“The challenge with genetically modified organisms to a large extent has to do with the scientists researching on it. They have failed to communicate openly ,and where there is lack of evidence based information, ignorance thrives, and that is where we have found ourselves today. I am sure Mr President would have signed the bill,  if he has sufficient evidence based information clearing all the doubts,” he said.
Prof. Mohammed Ishaku, lead investigator of the GM cowpea project ,and one of the panellists, noted that there was nothing to fear about genetically modified foods. “Yes, we are aware how people react to every technology that comes.Take the aeroplane, for instance, when it first came people were saying no,  but here we are today, you can agree with me that the plane has made life a lot better and easier.”

He said that as a Nigerian scientist from a very poor farming background, he was aware of the challenges of farmers, food challenges for rural households and cases of diseases that affect crops, as well as children that the technology can tackle.
“Farming is becoming a hopeless venture for the rural populace, who invariably constitute about 70 per cent of Nigerian farmers, because of the yearly decline in yield which is occasioned  by pests .But now we have a technology that can handle the threats posed by these pests, so why shouldn’t we go for it? I am a Nigerian and will never champion nor research on anything that will have negative impact on the citizens,” he added.
Miriam Bassey, a lawyer and programme officer with Friends of the Earth, an international non-governmental organisation campaigning for a safe environment, said that Nigeria and Nigerians should say no to GM.

Her reasons are that the country lacked the capacity and potentials to handle any risk or emergency that may arise from its deployment. She also said that the introduction of GM crops would contaminate our natural  soil and pose risk for the entire country.
She mentioned that GM as introduced in India, has led to the death of farmers after the assured bumper harvest failed to happen.
But as the debate rages as to whether Nigeria should allow GM foods or not, a former Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Prof. Bamidele Solomon said that Nigerians were already eating GM foods.
“If you eat cornflakes, because all the Kellogs cornflakes come from BT corn, then you are already eating GM foods. We all wear clothes from China, there are all made from BT cotton,” he said.
Solomon said rather than dissipate energy on whether we want to eat GM foods or not we should channel our energy into articulating a law that would guard against the misuse of the technology.

Dr Shehu Idris ,a freelance research scientist, was in total support of Prof. Solomon’s view that Nigerians are already eating GM foods. “There is this notorious international rating we have won for ourselves as the most travelled people in the world. Anywhere you go you will see a Nigerian and the bulk of the world’s food supply is coming from GM sources, which countries like the USA have adopted.So, if you visit the USA the possibility that you have eaten GM foods is high.”
“If it is good for us to eat in the United States, why do we have to protest against it here?” he asked.
In the last few years, Nigeria has witnessed the influx of multi-national supermarkets originating from countries where GM crops and foods are allowed. The implication of this development according to experts, is that GM products are already passing through the back door into the country.
Okon Akparanta, a Public Affairs Analyst said “Check out all the big cities we have and you will see the South African shops here, and they get their supplies from their home country.We allow them to operate here, yet we don’t want to open our doors to GM products.”
Dr Mark Ukwungwu, a rice researcher and head of the National Cereals Research Institute,  said that the GM technology would make farming attractive and assist the nation overcome the threat of food insecurity.
Testimonies:
Last week, Mark Lynas, a visiting professor at Oxford University and former lead campaigner against the deployment of GM,  apologised to farmers across the globe for misleading them during his role as an anti-GM activist.
“I personally share some of the blame myself, for the years I spent as an anti-GMO activist. During this time, I personally destroyed GMO crops in the field with activist groups. I co-organised the first-ever occupation of Mansanto Headquarters in the UK. Every time I hear another myth about GMOs causing cancer or taking genes from fish and putting them into tomatoes or making seeds sterile or whatever it is, I feel partly responsible for this,” Lynas said.
Lynas was invited to Nigeria to help create awareness among policy and law makers ,on the need for Nigeria to embrace the technology.
“In my view, the controversy over GMOs represents one of the greatest science communications failures of the past half century. Millions of people have come to believe a story about GMOs, which is not just wrong in parts, but across the board is the precise opposite of the scientific truths,” Lynas said at the launch of AfricaSTI magazine in Abuja, Nigeria.
He said that scientists were to blame for failing to inform society of the real benefits of their work, even when the scale of the challenge became clear.

Lynas noted that biotechnology was not a silver bullet, but that it can help address the colliding imperatives of population growth, ecological damages and climate change.
According to the repentant GMO advocate, if activists succeeded in getting governments to ban GMO crops worldwide, then they will have denied our scientists a vital tool for promoting food security and sustainability in an era of accelerating ecological crisis.
At the National assembly, both chambers committees on science and technology expressed their reservation for the technology, but were delighted that the National Biotechnology Development Agency was making concerted efforts in educating Nigerians on the benefit of the technology.
In West Africa, Ghana and Burkina Faso have already taken giant steps in deploying the technology. Burkina Faso has already started planting BT Cotton, and stories making waves is that Nigeria’s cotton farmers are already getting seeds from Burkina Faso, while Ghana has perfected its Biosafety laws, and its researchers are working hard to improve the local beans as a way of stopping the massive importation of Kano beans from Nigeria, considered by Ghanaians as a more better and sweeter species.
Kenya and South Africa are also deploying the technology to assist in their effort to overcome food shortages.
As we continue to foot drag on the bill, we should also be mindful of our porous borders where cars and lorries of various sizes and shapes are being smuggled in on daily basis.