By Paul Efiong
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command and National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) have pledged to collaborate to unveil transaction of unsafe Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in supermarkets across the nation’s capital.
The Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Sadiq Bello made the pledge when the Director-General of NBMA paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja.
“I want you to count on us as a partner in progress and that whatever we can to ensure that you achieve you desired goal while your agency established.
“You talk about safety; the Nigeria Police also talk about security and safety of Nigerians and all people living in Nigeria as well.
“There has been an existing cooperation between your agency and the Nigeria Police, so this I want to assure you we will continue on that note, in fact we will try to build on it.
We are ready to cooperate and to collaborate in all aspects, we are ready to provide uniform policemen that will back them up as they go about their lawful official business and we can guaranty their safety incase if they threaten in anywhere.
“We are ready to deploy our uniform men when the need arises, so they can be rest assured that we are there for them. “
Speaking earlier, the Director-General of NBMA, Dr Rufus Ebegba, explained that some members of staff of the agency were under threat by some members of the public due to the nature of work done by the agency.
Ebegba said the essence of his visit with his team was to seek collaboration with the force to embark on unveiling of illegal transactions of unsafe GMOs in supermarkets, markets and laboratories involving in the products.
“This agency was created in 2015 through an act known as National Biosafety Management Agency Act (NBMAC).
“And in that act, it is stated that the agency shall enforce the company of law enforcement agents and your agency is key to our operation.
“There are likely people who are ready to circumvent the law we have to carry out the operations by getting them to be arrested.
“Or going to where there are illegal GMOs to make sure that they are confiscated those without permit.
“So there are a lot of ways and also, the issue of police is very key as security, there are some members of the public who are more or less posed as threats to our agency and we need the police for such security cover.
“Our operations actually extends to as far as to supermarkets, to farms, even to laboratories where GMOs are being produced, we have a very large scoop of area of operations and if we find reasons that their activities have seem to have bridge the act.
“We have to ensure that there is an operation in that area to get of them arrested and they will be prosecuted definitely and then we need the police for such security cover.
The NBMA director also advised the FCT residents to report any suspicious GMOs products seemed to be harmful to both the police command and the NBMA offices.
