The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on the regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and its products thereof.
Speaking during the ceremony today in Abuja, the director-general of NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, assured of the agency’s readiness’s to collaborate and synergize with the FCCPC in ensuring the safety and protection of consumers’ health and rights and the environment in the release GMOs.
“The NBMA is always available to work transparently with line ministries, sister agencies and stakeholders as this will help us in our work at ensuring safety and protection of consumers health and their rights. The collaboration with FCCPC today is to ensure transparency and to build the trust of the public to understand that whatever the agency has confirmed safe is safe indeed.
“What we are doing today is in tandem with the programmes and aspirations of the Federal Government to ensure that agencies collaborate to save cost, ensure synergy, ensure effectiveness, transparency and whatever is needed to ensure that operations are smooth and mandates are achieved. Let me also assure you that signing of this MoU today will bring about a greater working relationship between the FCCPC and the NBMA,” he said.
In his remarks, the commission’s executive vice chairman (EVC), Babatunde Irukera, commended the NBMA on its collaborative efforts and strategies describing the collaboration as very important due to the mandate of both agencies.
“This signing of MoU has presented itself an opportunity to collaborate and institutionalize framework to cooperate and ensure a robust mechanism for protecting consumers. The FCCPC and the NBMA have mutual roles at ensuring safety of Nigerians and this is the best strategy to ensuring that our mandates are achieved,” he added.
