Biosafety

The Director- General (DG), National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has assured Nigerians that the agency would only come out with useful products not harmful to the society.

Ebegba gave the assurance on Wednesday in Abuja during a two-day workshop.

NBMA in collaboration with Febi International Consult Ltd. organised the training from Aug. 2 to Aug. 3, on capacity strengthening on biosafety and biosecurity.

The DG said that Nigeria as a country must acquire knowledge to have a system of international standard in its operations.

“We must ensure that technology does not have a negative impact on the conservation and the use of biotechnology in our country.

“We are the chair of African Biosafety Regulations Forum which means all the agencies in all the 54 countries of Africa are overseen by us, so we are number one and the number one position we must sustain all through.

“We must see ourselves as safety and economic enablers and so we must stand and work for that,’’ Ebegba said.

He urged Nigeria as a country to stand tall in the comity of nations.

“We must ensure that biotechnology is not harmful to our environment. So, in essence we must look at the issues of biodiversity, we must ensure that each product has economic benefits,” Ebegba said.

He said that the issue of COVID-19 was still very much alive and the pandemic did not only impact on human health but also on social and economic lives of citizens.

Ebegba expressed sympathy on the negative impacts of COVID-19 saying that the pandemic had distorted economies and brought them to their knees.

“Our country must be prepared not to allow any other harmful agent to harm our health, environment and economy in the future,’’ he said.