Presidential monologue ( 28)
MR President, I greet you. Nigeria has long been a country of anything goes, a banana republic. Nothing illustrates this fact better than two policies adopted by the Nigerian government under your watch, namely, the Genetically Modified Organisms ( GMOS) and the Samoa Agreement between the EU- ACP countries. I will address the latter next week, all things being equal. First, I speak to the issue of GMOS central to our survival as humans.
In a post on its website, on January 12, 2018, the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF), says “Africa is rich in natural resources and is probably the last continent where optimising agricultural production is possible”. It emphasises the need to “support farmers across Africa to adopt food production systems that create and maintain the crucial balance between agricultural development and the protection of natural capital and ecosystems.”
Mr President, the ruling clique in Nigeria led by you seems not to understand this issue, thereby allowing the inroad of Genetically Modified Organisms ( GMOS) in the area of crops to infiltrate the core of food production in our country and Africa.
I was shocked to learn that your government has approved the deployment of GMOS, especially so- called TELA Maize into the country. Unbelievably, an agency of government has rationalised it in a Manichaean fashion. Both good and bad, but we follow the good side of the bargain.
The National Biosafety Management Agency ( NBMA) led by Dr. Agnes Asagbra, its DirectorGeneral, has proclaimed that GMOS are safe for consumption. For her, GMOS are novel genetic materials resulting from modern biotechnology that enhance crop traits, improve yields, and help to resolve agricultural challenges. Therefore, “While concerns exist about longterm effects, the current scientific consensus supported by the NBMA is that GMO foods approved for consumption in Nigeria are safe.” The agency claims it does risk assessment that covers areas such as human health, the environment, and biodiversity, with particular attention to “allergenicity”, “toxicity”, and other potential risks that may result from the adoption of GMOS. NBMA aligns its practices with global standards affirmed by international bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to maximise the benefits of modern biotechnology.
Following public outrage on the approval of the so- called TELA Maize and charges of the absence of risk assessment by The Health of Mother Earth Foundation, NBMA has come out in defence. It noted that “the safety and health of Nigerians are of topmost importance, we will not compromise on this… We take into serious cognisance the concerns of Nigerians because maize is a staple crop which is of great importance to the country… We urge Nigerians to remain calm and trust in the rigorous evaluation process. TELA maize has been approved based on scientific evidence, its benefits to farmers are significant”.
It is crucial to note the discontents of genetically modified crops. One major one is that the genetically modified seeds are sterile. When they are produced, they can be consumed but cannot be used for replanting. To replant you have to purchase from the companies. Another is the question of safety for consumption.
Even while the government passed the maize as fit consumption, it added a caveat that the long- term effect was yet to be known. So why is the government in a hurry to introduce GM maize into the country’s agricultural process? For sure, there is nothing wrong with natural/ organic species that we know and have used for years. Why has the Nigerian government become the mouthpiece of the imperialist ploy? Bill Gates, the owner of Monsanto, the GMO Company, introducing the TELA maize is notorious for his population control obsession.
Beyond this, the commoditisation of seedlings for food crop production renders us perpetually dependent on imperialism for food. It is unsustainable and feeds into the extinction of the black race. It is a re- enactment of the disarticulation of production in Africa due to colonial intrusion into the continent. The result has been that we produce what we do not consume and buy what we consume. GMOS will intensify the dependency of an already impoverished population.
The famine in Zimbabwe is partly caused by the cultivation of GM seeds for cultivation. It is the most dangerous of the causes of its food problems, the others being drought, deliberate destruction of farms by white farmers, and their consequent emigration from the country.
Mr President, we need to inform ourselves of how these enemies of the impoverished countries of the global south have made inroads into our enclaves. My compatriot, Mr Nnimmo Bassey, has pointed out in his book, “To Cook a Continent”, the stratagems of the misanthropes weighing us down.
The climate crisis, occasioned by the greenhouse gas emission of the industrial Global North has been employed to predict a food crisis in Africa paving the way to promote GMO food in Africa. As Bassey puts it in the above- referenced work on p. 113. “Africa has become a major battle ground for GM crops, and efforts to ensure the penetration of the continent by hook or by crook have been thick and persistent. With a picture of unyielding hunger, malnourished people, and an inability to plough with anything other than a hoe, Africa is presented as a lost cause that must be helped by a loving, caring world”.
The gullible leaders that the continent is afflicted with will then swallow the bait of seeing the introduction of GMOS as an opportunity to access grants without consideration of the risk posed to our health and the inherent dependency.
Mr President, I exhort you to lead this fight against GM foods in our country and the continent.
Corrigendum: in the 27th part of this serial, the coup in Niger was dated July 23, 2023. The correct date is July 26, 2023.