The Center for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR) and the Centre for Youth Participation, Dialogue and Advocacy Africa (CYPA) have again raised alarm about the major dangers posed by genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods and seeds in the country. Speaking at a media parley recently, Deputy Director of CEFSAR, Dr. Segun Adebayo, who said GMOs will erode food security in the country, linked modern diseases in Nigeria to the consumption of inorganic foods. He said, “There was a time we used to think hypertension, stroke, and diabetes were diseases meant for the elderly, but today you can open your phone and search, and you will see things like juvenile diabetes, juvenile cancer, and turbocancer—these are modern illnesses.”
That was not the only concern expressed by the groups. They tried to establish a nexus between the GMO and insecurity. While calling on Nigerians to be mindful of what they consume through the mouth and the veins, Adebayo expressed concerns about the regular targeting of farms for destruction in Plateau, Kaduna, and other states under the guise of a sectarian crisis. “We have found out that the places that are being attacked are mostly farming regions, and that seems to be the common denominator for years. What is next when the farms are attacked? The next thing some people from abroad will do is come and say they have a breakthrough in science and say, Come and take these seeds, and what are they? Genetically modified seeds.”
On why Nigerians should be very careful with genetically modified foods and crops, Adebayo said they are unnatural and not organic. Speaking further, Adebayo said most GMO seeds are also sterile, which will make farmers regularly depend on their foreign providers.
“The instructions put into those things make them sterile, someone has put his business model into that thing, and you will always have to come back to him to buy seeds. If a country or economy is dependent on such a model for their food system, what happens is that they have lost their food sovereignty to the neocolonialists that are trying to take over that country…
“It is the greatest attempt to impoverish the nation; that is why we need to educate the people, policy makers and citizens at large, because if we say we don’t want it, they can’t give it to us,” Adebayo posited.
On his part, the Executive Director of the Centre for Youth Participation, Dialogue, and Advocacy Africa (CYPA), Dr. Chris Iyama, harped on the need for Nigerians to hold the government accountable on the issue of GMOs.
“We need to hold the government accountable, there are people who approve of these GMOs that we need to speak to because they may be ignorantly doing what they are doing, even if they even know they must have (allegedly) collected money from the backend just to push things that will destroy lives,” he said.
On attacks on farmlands, Iyama alleged that such incidents might be orchestrated to frustrate farmers and push them out of their farming business. He expressed the group’s readiness to constructively engage relevant stakeholders to brainstorm on the ills of GMO food in order to protect Nigerians from danger.
Iyama said, “We are saying enough is enough. Can we have a proper debate that will involve Senators, the Minister of Agriculture, and NAFDAC? Can we have a proper public hearing?”
He said a major rally would be held in Abuja on Monday to enlighten Nigerians on the dangers of GMO products. “Any crop that is not organic is dangerous, we are telling Nigeria to shun GMOs,” he added.