DANIEL DAUDA, Jos
A Civil Society Organizations, known as Youth for Environment Sustainability and Development (YESD), has advocated for immediate legislative action against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) practice to enhance food security and sufficiency in Nigeria.
YESD, vehemently admitted that GMO practice is anti-people as it has adverse negative effects on the environment, farms, and the human body system.
Daily Champion reports that the CSOs staged a protest at the Plateau State House of Assembly on Friday, carrying banners and placards with different inscriptions.
They are advocating for a clean environment, a good food system, and above all food sovereignty in Nigeria.
Presenting a nine petition to the speaker of Plateau 10th Assembly, Rt. Hon. Gabriel Dewan, Founder/Team leader, Youth for Environment Sustainability and Development, Adesuwa James Jang, called the Federal Government to ban GMOs in Nigeria and to instead, invest in Agro-ecology comprising of organic agriculture, regenerative agriculture, agro-forestry and other practices that are proven and can transform the Nigerian Food system to sustainability while ensuring food sovereignty and addressing climate change impacts.
She revealed on the 17th of November, 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria, the House of Representatives organized a joint committee hearing on the impact of GMOs on human health and the environment.
The hearing also had a second mandate of investigating the feasibility of the privatization and commercialization of government silos and agriculture value chain assets. At the hearing, 97 non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations were invited to contribute to the discussion on the impact of GMOs on the economy, human health, and the environment.
“Among the members of these institutions were professors in genetics, gene editing, biochemistry, agriculture, agricultural economics, and other scientific disciplines, all advocating against GMOs.
“The fact that the committee’s research question sought to examine the impact of GMOs on human health and the environment was very encouraging because it made the inquiry human-focused rather than being driven by corporate profit motives.
“From my understanding, this was the most prominent hearing to investigate the impact of GMOs on health and the environment by any parliament in Africa. What made the hearing even more inspiring was the fact that the anti-GMO position was being bolstered by a group of highly qualified scientists and academics, dispelling the notion that those opposed to GMOs are pseudo-scientists or conspiracy theorists.
“According to the powerful representation of anti-GMO submission during the hearing, who by their support we are gathered here today, they provide the House of Representatives with insights into how GMOs had destroyed seeds and eroded small rural farmers’ ability to produce food for example in South Africa”, she mentioned.
YESD founder also said I joined Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in knocking on lawmakers’ doors, sharing Zimbabwe’s experience of how rural farmers have lost their ability to produce food due to costly patented seeds, chemicals, and soil destruction
“This rally and our collective resolve to kick GMO out has strengthened my resolution to work with other civil society organizations to unite Africa in resisting food imperialism. We must restore our open-pollinated seed systems and invest in organic farming to reclaim our food sovereignty from Western biotech dependency”, she added.
Receiving the petition on behalf of the Plateau Assembly speaker, Yahaya Abari, secretary House committee on agriculture, said the governor placed agriculture as one of his priorities which is very important, and without food, no one survived.
He promised to submit the petition to his committee chairman, and thereafter the chairman will present it to the speaker for onward legislative action.
