A coalition of farmers, scientists, nutritionists, legal and medical practitioners, civil society organisations, women and youth groups has called on the Federal Government to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria, following the 2024 recommendation by the House of Representatives.
They made the call at a national rally for food sovereignty and environmental justice held in Abuja on Tuesday.
The rally was organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and the GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance to press for concrete action on the 2024 recommendation of the House of Representatives, which called for the suspension of GMOs pending a comprehensive investigation into approval processes and the regulatory framework governing their use in Nigeria.
Participants at the rally also submitted a petition to the lower chamber of the National Assembly, insisting that the continued deployment and commercialisation of GMOs pose “grave risks to food sovereignty, biodiversity, farmers’ livelihoods, public health, and environmental health.”
Concerns about GMOs, the coalition said, have persisted for years, dating back to the establishment of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and the issuance of early permits to Monsanto Nigeria Limited and the National Biotechnology Development Agency, now known as the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency. Opposition intensified in 2024 following the approval of genetically modified TELA maize.
Speaking at the rally, the Executive Director of HOMEF, represented by the Director of Programmes, Joyce Brown, said several critical issues surrounding GMOs could not be ignored.
“Key concerns with regard to GMOs that we cannot afford to overlook include the contamination and loss of Nigeria’s genetic resources/diversity due to cross pollination from the 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 for 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 addressing the rally, the Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Mariann Bassey-Olsson, noted that opposition to GMOs was not unique to Nigeria. She said several countries across the world had banned the cultivation or importation of genetically modified crops.
“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.
“Similar restrictions 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.
The Country Director of Bio-integrity and Natural Food Awareness Initiative, Dr Jacqueline Ikeotuonye, challenged claims that GMOs significantly boost agricultural yields.
Citing a 2024 report by the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), she said farmers who adopted genetically modified cotton did not record meaningful yield improvements compared to local seed varieties.
“The farmers did not record any significant increase in their yields compared to the local seed varieties, but observed that in three years of planting the GM variety, yield per hectare remained almost the same,” she said. According to the report, NACOTAN also found that “no other plant has been able to germinate on the farmlands where the GM seeds were planted, even after four years.
“Farmers across the country have complain that with GMOs, productivity reduces in the second planting season, meaning they cannot replant these seeds but have to continuously purchase the seeds every new season,” Dr. Ikeotuonye said.
On regulation, the Associate Director of the Climate and Environment Programme at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr Martins Ogunlade, called for greater transparency and accountability from the National Biosafety Management Agency.
He said that, to date, there was “no evidence of any long-term risk assessment that has been undertaken, including clinical trials conducted before commercial release of the GM crops so far released in Nigeria.”
Other speakers at the rally cited studies linking the consumption of GMOs to health risks, including antibiotic resistance.
A woman farmer who spoke at the rally, Lovelyn Ejim, said government decisions should reflect the will and welfare of Nigerians. She noted that calls for a GMO ban had intensified over the years.
“Since 2013, there has been increased demand from the Nigerian people in online media and several other fora for a ban on GMOs,” she said. “It is clear that Nigerians do not want this technology in our food and the government’s persistent approval of GMOs means a total disregard for the rights of the people and exposes the vested interest in this technology.
Ending the rally, participants outlined a set of demands, including an immediate ban on all GMO materials for planting, food, feed production and processing in Nigeria.
They also called for a ban on imported processed foods containing bioengineered ingredients, the nullification of all permits already granted, and increased investment in agro-ecology, organic farming and other food production systems that promote food security, food sovereignty and economic resilience.
Apart from HOMEF, GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance, Bio-integrity and Natural Food Awareness Initiative and CAPPA, the statement was endorsed by 74 others including Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Women Envoironmental Programme, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Global Prolife Alliance and the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), among others.
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