A broad coalition of farmers, scientists, health experts, civil society organisations, and women and youth groups has once again urged the Federal Government to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria.
The demand was made on Tuesday at a national rally on food sovereignty and environmental justice held in Abuja. The rally was organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) alongside GMO Free Nigeria.
It followed a 2024 recommendation by the House of Representatives which advised the government to stop promoting GMOs until there is clear scientific evidence that they pose no harm to human health.
During the rally, participants also submitted a petition to the House of Representatives, calling for the immediate suspension of GMO approvals while Nigeria’s biosafety approval system and regulatory framework undergo a thorough review.
Addressing the crowd, Olamide Martin, Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said there were serious and unresolved concerns surrounding the introduction of GMOs in the country.
In a related address, the Executive Director of HOMEF, represented by the Director of Programmes, Joyce Brown, warned that the risks associated with GMOs could have lasting effects on Nigeria’s environment and food systems.
She said major concerns include the contamination and loss of Nigeria’s genetic diversity caused by cross-pollination from genetically engineered crops.
“Soil degradation resulting from transfer of toxins from GMOs such as the Bt Cowpea and Cotton (produced by the introduction of the CRY1Ab toxins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis); loss of food sovereignty as the corporations control the seeds and farmers have to buy seeds season after season — negating the age-long Nigerian/African culture of saving and sharing seeds,” she said.
Also speaking at the rally, the Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Mariann Bassey-Olsson, noted that many countries around the world have already restricted or banned GMOs.
“In the European Union, countries like France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Malta, Slovenia, Italy and Croatia have banned GMOs. Switzerland and Russia also have bans on GMOs,” she said.
She added that similar bans exist in other regions. “In Asia-Pacific, Australia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Japan and Saudi Arabia. In the Americas, Belize, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela have banned GMOs. In Africa, countries like Algeria, Madagascar and Zimbabwe have banned both the import and cultivation of GMOs,” she said.