92 CSOs storm NASS to demand outright ban of GMOs

By EricJames Ochigbo

A coalition of 92 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly Complex in a rally to demand the outright prohibition of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in the Nigeria.

The group also called for the immediate implementation of the House of Representatives resolution on the need to halt the production, use and consumption of GMOs pending a conclusive investigation on its social, economic, health and environmental implications.

GMO is a plant, animal or microorganism that has been subjected to biotechnology through a process called genetic engineering where NDA of the plant, animal or organism is altered in a way that does not occur naturally to produce a desired result.

Addressing newsmen on the sideline of the rally, the Programmes Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Mrs Joyce brown, said that GMOs is a threat to local food varieties and environmental safety.

According to her, there are researches and studies that linked the consumption of GMOs to several immune disorders, kidney failure, cancer and other health problems.

“Last year, the House of Representatives in May following a motion, resolved for the suspension of GMOs pending research on the process of deployment to approval so far.

“So, in this rally, we call on the government to take action in that regard, to ensure that suspension is in place.

“And to ensure that the research is actually done, and the result of that study is made known to the Nigerian public; we are saying GMO should be banned and that the government should invest in agroecology.

“This is a system that can ensure that we have enough food and not just enough food, but food that is healthy, food that is produced in a way that protects the ecosystem and also agriecology,” she said.

Also speaking, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Mrs Mariann Bassey-Olsson, called for the outright ban of GMOs in Nigeria following the implications associated with it.

According to her, all over Europe, they do not even eat GMOs and they do not feed it to their animals.

“Nigeria has all it takes to feed our people organically, using agricological practices and methods.

“The people who are bringing it in are businessmen, they are just after making money. There is nothing about feeding people. It’s about businessmen and smiling to the bank.

“Nigeria is blessed with abundance of food, of rich cultures; let us go the way of agroecology, let us export rich traditional foods,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Olamide Martins of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation in Africa (CAPPA) said that GMOs had stripped Nigeria of its food sovereignty.

He described GMOs as a threat to local livelihood and local food ownership, adding that Nigeria is faced with food existential crisis.

He said that the GMO initiative was a capitalist agenda of a few big players in the industry to take over and dictate the food system of the country. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

EOO/ISHO/ADA

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Edited by Yinusa Ishola/Deji Abdulwahab