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| Image source/credit: Organic Lifestyle Magazine |
In a joint statement on
Tuesday, the activists called for the repeal of Nigeria’s Biosafety Law.
“Clearly, NBMA (National
Biosafety Management Agency) as conceived and constructed is incapable of
objectively managing biosafety regulation in Nigeria,” the statement read.
“We cannot repose any
confidence in an agency that never mentioned or let it slip that they had
opened the doors to an influx of GMOs by issuing permits to Monsanto until we
announced to the general public.”
The statement was signed
by Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF); Mariann
Bassey-Orovwuje, Food Sovereignty Manager/Coordinator, Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria; and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Convener
Nigerians Against GMO.
The statement came amidst
claims and counter-claims between the activists and Nigerian government
officials over the status of GMOs in the country.
Last month, the NBMA issued
two permits for the Commercial Release and Placing on Market of genetically
modified cotton and the confined field trial of maize to Monsanto Agriculture
Nigeria Limited.
The two permits include:
‘Permit for Commercial Release/Placing on Market of Cotton (MON15985)
genetically modified for leptidopteran insect pest resistance’ with Permit No:
NBMA/CM/IM/001 and ‘Permit for Confined Field Trial (CFT) of Maize (NK603 and
MON89034 × NK603) genetically modified for insect resistance and herbicide
tolerance’ with Permit No: NBMA/CFT/001.
Despite claims by
anti-GMO activists, Amina Mohammed, the Minister for Environment, said no GMO
was “officially” being grown in the country.
“All the GMOs in Nigeria
officially approved are under experimental fields, the insect resistant cotton
for commercial release will still be subjected to further processes for the
next two years,” Ms. Mohammed said in a statement last week.
GMOs ‘officially approved
in Nigeria’
In their statement on
Tuesday, the activists said government officials possibly had a vague
understanding of the permit document.
“Monsanto Agriculture
Nigeria Ltd did not apply for field trials of GMO cotton,” the statement
continued.
“They applied for a
commercial release and placement in the environment. This means commercial
planting of GMO cotton in Nigeria.
“Section 4 of the permit
states and we quote ‘After a thorough analysis of the application dossier, Risk
Assessment and Risk Management plan prepared in connection with the assessment
of the application for the permit, it is unlikely that the proposed release
will cause adverse impact on the environment and on human health. A permit is
therefore granted to the Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Ltd as applied for.’
“This was signed by the
Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NBMA on Sunday 1st May 2016.”
The statement added that
the permit did not leave room for further trials.
“The requirement of the
applicant is merely to make reports on their experience in their farms,” it
said.
“This is very different
from confined field trials as is the case with the permit for GMO maize –
which, in any case, we equally object to.”
Ms. Mohammed had also
said the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the NBMA, would
organise an experts meeting involving civil society groups, national agencies,
and international organisations to clarify Nigeria’s position on the use of
GMOs.
The activists queried why
the NBMA failed to consider the “robust objections made by five million
Nigerians” before granting the permit to Monsanto.
“NBMA by its letter of
28th April, 2016, acknowledging receipt of objection from Health of Mother
Earth Foundation and other civil society groups, stated: ‘Your observations
have been noted by the Agency… That the National Biosafety Management Agency
would review the application holistically and take the best interest of
Nigeria, to avoid risks to human health, biodiversity conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity. The socio- economic impacts would also be well
considered before taking the final decision on the application.’
“We consider it intriguing and suspicious that
a mere one working day after this letter, the DG of NBMA issued permits to
Monsanto,” the activists stated.
“This smacks of utter
disdain for opinions and positions of concerned citizens who are conscious of
the devastating socio-economic and environmental impacts of the failure of
these crops, especially GMO cotton in neighbouring Burkina Faso as well as in
India, Pakistan and elsewhere.
“We are concerned that
NBMA and NABDA keep going around hyping myths sold by the biotech industry to
an unsuspecting public, while being careful not to reveal to citizens that they
had rushed to issue permits a mere two months after the applications were
advertised.”
The permit issued by NBMA
to Monsanto states amongst other things that the ‘The purpose of the dealings
is commercial production of the GM cotton in all areas of Nigeria where cotton
is cultivated and for products of the GMO to enter general commerce.’
“If the Agency insists
that commercial release is the same things as filed trials, the Minister of
Environment would do well to ask NBMA to issue a glossary of Nigerian GMO terminology,”
said the activists.
The activists further
noted that Monsanto’s BT Cotton application in Nigeria was adopted “almost
verbatim” from the Malawian application the GMO company had sent in 2014 to
Malawi.
“We also objected to
Monsanto’s applications in Nigeria on many grounds,” said the activists.
“It is also worthy of
note that it took about six months for the Regulatory body in Malawi to come to
a decision and recommend to the Minister that Monsanto’s application should be
nullified.
“It took NBMA just a
month after 22 days’ window period given to the Nigerian public to submit
comments on the applications submitted by Monsanto to issue two Permits to
Monsanto to deploy GMOs in Nigeria.”
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