THE Federal Government, on Tuesday, vowed not to tolerate or allow any unhealthy product to be smuggled to Nigeria, urging Nigerians not to entertain any fear on the Genetic Modified Organisms (GMOs) products currently in circulation in the country.
Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency, Rufus Ebegba, who made this known at a press briefing in Abuja, therefore, assured that any product that contained GMOs would be labelled.
According to him, “it should be clear that no one would be forced to use or consume GMOs in Nigeria. GMOs would be labelled. Nigeria should not be panic. They don’t have to entertain fear for what they are consuming.”
He explained that some countries abroad consumed such products which people were smuggling to Nigeria, saying the Federal Government would not tolerate or allow any product that was not good for Nigerians.
The Director -General said the agency was working assiduously with other government agencies in Nigeria to fish-out the products in the country.
“The agency is systematically set up to deal with such challenges and it has been working with security agencies in the country.
“Within the limited resources we have, we are trying to ensure that we take a preliminary steps to see that most of those things are put in place. Some of what we have done is surveying the GMOs in the country.
“We have given people six months ultimatum to formalise their dealings and they cannot pretend to be ignorant of law,” he explained.
It will be recalled that consumption of GMO products was on argument on a popular radio programme called “Ebelembe” in Abuja, since Monday, and had also gone viral on internet as a dangerous product which had been introduced to Nigeria market.