Biotechnology, An Instrument to Nigeria’s Great Green Wall Initiative – Minister

The Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Mohammed has acknowledged biotechnology as an essential technology instrument to the accomplishment of the nation’s Great Green Wall Initiative project.

She indicated this when she received a high-powered delegation of members of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa Programming Committee (PC) in her office in Abuja, saying the nation would deploy biotechnology to achieve the AU initiative.

“We have 1500 kilometers across and 15 kilometers deep, what we need to do is to make that corridor, an economic one, not just trees but economic trees, jobs for people, how we can deal with energy solutions, connecting services within agriculture, not just stopping the desert but reclaiming the desert.

“The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) can come in the area of economic trees. The gestation period for trees used to last for three, four years, but today we are looking at eighteen months or less, that is biotechnology, this is where we need collaboration to ensure that we are able to do things quicker than usual, but we have to ensure safety and transparency in what we do. There are always good and bad sides, and we must take care of the bad side,” she said.

On safety concerns on biotechnology application, the minister urged NABDA and the biotech regulatory agency, the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), to be transparent and honest in addressing such issues.

“We need more research and we need to listen to people where they have concerns; we have to answer those frequently asked questions because without responding to people’s concerns, we are leaving the perception of not caring or not doing our homework. We have to be more open to people and transparent to everyone; also hear everyone’s concern and address them, with biosafety agency in place, we can begin to do that,” she added.