Admin l Friday, October 30, 2020
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba has said that it was important for experts to make input into the guidelines for the regulation of gene editing and the National Policy on Biosecurity that are being developed by the Agency.
The DG/CEO who said this during a two-day meeting to review the guidelines on Gene editing and National Biosecurity policy in Abuja, said that the two documents have gone through rigorous internal review by the Agency, hence, the need to subject them to review by external experts.
According a release by the agency’s Head of Press Unit, Gloria Ogbaki, Dr Ebegba said the NBMA was concerned about the human health and the safety of Gene edited products and how viable it can be to Nigeria’s economy.
He said: “The reason for the development of the guideline on Gene editing, is to enhance the regulation of Gene editing, to ensure that it is in conformity with international standards and serves as a model for other countries, to make the guidelines and their accompanying preliminary consultative form more practicable and easier for biosafety applicants to understand.”
Dr Ebegba added that the meeting was also to ensure that other necessary administrative and scientific information from the stakeholders and research community, that ought to be in the guidelines is well captioned and to have a preliminary draft National Biosecurity Policy in place for further review.
“This review meeting is to enable stakeholders subject the guidelines and Biosecurity policy to a rigorous process so that the NBMA can come up with holistic guidelines and Biosecurity policy, for the benefit of Nigerians”.
“The COVID19 pandemic is a Biosecurity issue and this National Policy will help the federal government have a proper Biosecurity Framework to enable the country tackle harmful Biological Agents that can cause harm to human health and the environment.
“This policy is expected to serve as a blue print in dealing with issues of Biosecurity and will be subjected to a larger stakeholders’ review after which it will be sent to the Federal Executive Council through the Federal Ministry of Environment for adoption,” the DG/CEO disclosed.
Chairman of the board of the NBMA, Ibrahim Nakande called for concerted effort in creating awareness so that Nigerians can understand the regulatory role of the Agency, noting that Nigerians should trust the Agency as what it has approved to be safe should be considered safe.
He said: “The Federal Government has put in place measures to ensure that products of modern Biotechnology are regulated so that any potential harm these products can cause to Nigerians and the environment will be checked.”
This is the first external review of both documents and these documents are expected to be subjected to a larger stakeholder review before it can be sent for adoption.
