A report recently published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says a total of 8.1 million people are currently facing acute food insecurity in Nigeria.

According to the report, the food crisis, which represents 9 percent of the population, may further deteriorate to 8.7 million in the next lean period of June-August 2017.

It adds that the number of severely food-insecure people may rise to 11 million, as over 2 million people may likely fall into emergency situation, while another 121,000 is prone to famine.

With the current population of over 180 million people, famine, malnutrition and hunger are staring the nation in the face. All these emergency situations are closely linked with the inability to produce enough food to feed the people, which make it obvious that the conventional method of agriculture is not working for us.

Agricultural biotechnology has been suggested as one of the tools that can contribute to solving the food production deficit in the country and has taken concrete steps to entrench biotechnology in agricultural production. This is because Nigeria, like most African countries, may face two daunting challenges in the 21st century: how to feed its growing population and secondly how to adapt to climate change.

Speaking at a one day sensitisation workshop on the appplication of modern biotechnology and biosafety regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) with the theme Agricultural Biotechnology Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms in Nigeria: Faith Based Perspectives, the director-general of the National Biotechnology Technology Agency (NABDA), Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, stressed that agricultural biotechnology could help Nigeria address the critical issue of food insecurity.

She said the workshop organised by the agency; the National Biosafety Managemt Agency (NBMA); the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa, Nigeria Chapter, in collaboration with the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CNS) and the Action Family Foundation (AFF) aimed at engaging relevant faith-based and civil society stakeholders on issues of modern biotechnology/biosafety to provide evidence-based advice for policy making.

The NABDA boss, however, noted that the application of modern biotechnology and biosafety regulation of GMOs is one of the most highly debated issues globally, saying Nigeria has not been left out of this debate.

She explained that some stakeholders are still opposed to the establishment in 2015 of the NBMA, an agency saddled with the responsibility to ensure safe and responsible application of this technology for sustainable food production, wealth creation, job creation, poverty alleviation etc. pointing out that the adoption of GMOs by Nigeria is not just a scientific issue, but one with economical, social, and ethical ramifications.

Ogbadu said it became necessary that all groups of stakeholders were carried along at each step of the adoption process, hence, the convening of the workshop with the faith-based organizations.

Giving the workshops objectives, the OFAB Nigeria Chapter coordinator, Dr. Rose Gidado, said it was to raise awareness and sensitise the faith-based groups about issues related to GMOs, their use, and biosafety regulation; address expressed areas of peoples concerns about GMOs; harvest the inputs by participants to guide further refining of the national approaches to the introduction of GMOs; and foster collaboration among stakeholders.

The Bishop of the Catholic Arch Diocese of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said the Catholic Church had nothing against or for the adoption of the controversial GMOs in the country.

The cardinal, represented by his auxiliary, Most. Rev. Anselm Umoren said the Catholic Church did not have anything against GMOs or for it, but believed that biotechnology is about science, which is about many other things that are much more natural than manipulation of genes for certain results.

He said the issue of GMOs would continue to generate tension in the country until all the scientific proofs were substantiated and certified.

Onaiyekan said: The Catholic Church has nothing or against GMO. The issue of GMO will continue to generate tension. I am not sure whether it is not about Catholic Church but it is about humanity in general and it has to do with safety, health and so on.

In his remarks, the director-general of NBMA, Dr Rufus Ebegba, explained that the Federal Government had put adequate measures in place to address concerns that might be raised by any group of people with regard to the safety of biotechnology and GMOs.

The issue of the National Biosafety Management Act is the first measure the federal government has put in place as well as the establishment of the NBMA to ensure that the practice of modern biotechnology is done in compliance with some certain laid down rules and regulations and in that light the agency is well established to see that nothing unsafe as regards to GMOs is allowed into the country.

Nigeria needs not to be bothered as biotechnology is a scientific evolution which is going on globally and Nigeria as a country is adequately prepared for this evolution, he stated.

Speaking to journalists, the vice national president of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Chief Daniel Okafor, called for more awareness creation on the benefits of biotechnology because Nigerians are still ignornant of the gains of the technology.

He said: We cant do without technology, as a farmer weve been farming for a long time and the yields are not enough. We are talking about increase in yield. We have gone around the world with biotechnology agencies and we noticed that other farmers around the world that have already embraced this technology are doing very well. We need more awareness creation so farmers can also begin to enjoy what their counterparts across the globe are already enjoying.

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Why Nigeria Needs To Key Into Biotechnology Global Evolution | - Leadership Newspapers