The Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN) says that biotechnology is not just about providing food security and revolutionising healthcare but also charting the course of international trade and diplomacy.
Prof Sylvia Uzochukwu, President of the BSN, said this in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.
She warned that any country that ignored modern biotechnology does so to its peril.
She disclosed that the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA) was mandated to promote the technology in Nigeria.
Uzochukwu added that the NBRDA was also required to midwife the deregulation of biotechnology products after twenty years of consistent work with various partners.
According to her, challenges of population growth and climate change will continue to require bioengineering of plants to improve attributes such as drought resistance at a much larger scale.
She said that the Federal Government, conscious that genetic engineering could be used for good and evil, like electricity and airplanes, set up the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA).
The professor of Food Science and Biotechnology noted that an international treaty required the establishment of a regulator, and the NBMA was to ensure the safety of biotechnology products.
“I call on the NBMA to say that the regulation of new biotechnology products should become more and more product-based rather than process-based.
“What this means is that the agency should concentrate on the product’s safety, irrespective of how it was made,” Uzochukwu said.
She assured that since the NBMA has been mandated to ensure the safety of genetically engineered food products before commercial release, there should be no cause for alarm among the populace.
“Some Nigerians worry that apart from personnel costs, these agencies are primarily left to fend for themselves and rely on donor funds for the actual execution of their mandates.
“Now that donors are withdrawing funds from projects, we hope our governments will channel funds to science and technology,” she said.
