Domestication of biotechnology will create 10,000 jobs yearly – Biosafety Secretariat

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johnsonThe National Bio-safety Secretariat said on Thursday that the domestication of biotechnology will create 10, 000 direct and indirect jobs every year in the country, Mr Rufus Ebegba, Head, National Bio-safety Office, has said.

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Ebegba told news men  in Abuja.

He said the domestication of the new technology would lead to the establishment of many small laboratories and create distribution platform for products from the technology.

He said that the adoption of the modern biotechnology would equally boost activities in the textile industry in Nigeria with the introduction of Biotechnology Cotton (BT cotton).

NAN reports that modern biotechnology entails the altering of the genes of certain organisms to create new crops or animal traits, through genetic engineering method.

According to him, if we (Nigerians) should domesticate the technology, it has the potential to generate wealth, enhance food production and create both direct and indirect 10,000 jobs yearly.

“The adoption of the technology will create many small laboratories which will generate mass employment for our people.

“It can create indirect jobs through the distribution of platforms which involve a chain of economic activities.’’

Ebegba, who is also a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Environment, urged sponsors of negative writings against biotechnology to desist, adding that most of the negative reports were not scientifically based.

“Some of the negative writers are NGOs, who are funded by some chemical industries who think that the introduction of GMO will kill their market.

“Some of the BT crops are pest-resistant and as such, do not need pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser, so their businesses will go down,’’ he said.

He said the application of the technology had no health implication, pointing out that the Genetically Modified (GM)  Food, would normally undergo several laboratory tests before they are allowed into the market.

According to him, U.S. is the most careful country in the world and they have been consuming GMOs since 1996.

“The GMOs have gone through several laboratory tests and discovered that they do not have health implications.

“GMOs are highly regulated.”

He said that even in the absence of the biosafety, modification in crop takes place naturally, stressing that most things that were edible were not the same as what they were in their original form.

He also said that technology had solved a lot of problems that had no solution conventionally.

He expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to domesticate the technology.

He said the training of 15 staff of the ministry for specialisation in bio-safety was a demonstration of  government’s interest in the technology.

“With the look of things, the Federal Government is properly prepared to adopt this technology.

“It has demonstrated it by training 15 staff in bio-safety both home and abroad.’’

The deputy director said that several sensitisation workshops held in Nigeria had exposed most people to indepth knowledge about the technology.

Ebegba said the workshops had further built confidence in the promoters of the technology on how to regulate it.

He, however, said that the bill which had reached its second reading at the National Assembly would make provision for sectoral funding.

He said the bill, which was the major component of the technology, would encourage research in the country.

NAN reports that President Goodluck Jonathan had requested the National Assembly to review the National Biosafety Bill which had earlier been passed by the two chambers.

NAN also reports that the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is an international agreement developed to complement the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by GM organisms due to modern biotechnology application.

The Biosafety Protocol makes clear that products from new technologies must be based on the precautionary principle, and permit developing nations to balance public health against economic benefits

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

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