The Director General (DG) National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, on Monday said that issues of biosecurity are key to national security.

Mr Ebegba said this in Abuja at the public presentation of National Biosafety Guidelines on Genetically Modified (GM) plants with stacked genes and GM fish.

“We have put in place biosecurity policies, we are at the verge of presenting it for stakeholders to further understand how this policy will be implemented.

“In the area of insecurity in our country, we are very much aware of the way the world is going,” he said.

Mr Ebegba said that the policy had adequately addressed the area of bio-terrorism that might likely occur.

The DG said that the agency is in collaboration with stakeholders to prevent the unintentional release of harmful biological agents.

“We must ensure that we properly curtail them so that they are not released to the environment,” Mr Ebegba said.

Similarly, the Country Coordinator, Programme for Biosafety System (PBS) Dr Matthew Dore, applauded the presentation of the document.

“We in PBS are happy to be associated with this policy,” Mr Dore said.

He said that the document seeks to guide practitioners and stakeholders on modern technology.

Mr Dore commended NBMA for its efforts to ensure development in the biotechnology field especially with the application and the challenges of regulating it. 

(NAN)