Nigeria's Biosafety Agency Defends GMO Regulation Amid Public Trust Concerns

The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has reassured Nigerians that no Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) food is approved in the country without a thorough safety assessment, even if deemed safe in its country of origin. The assurance was given by the Director General/CEO of NBMA during a stakeholders sensitization workshop held over the weekend in Minna, Niger State.

"No genetically modified food is approved in Nigeria unless certified safe by NBMA and relevant agencies. Global bodies like WHO and FAO have not found any GM food to be unsafe," the agency emphasized. The NBMA acknowledged public concerns about GMO foods, noting that they are valid and shared by the agency.

However, critics have raised fundamental questions about the regulatory process. One key concern is the absence of results from long-term and independent, peer-reviewed risk assessment including feeding tests conducted that informs the safety of the four officially approved products for commercial planting in Nigeria and the 10 or more others approved for food, feed and processing. Such information is not on the website of the NBMA as of March 6, 2026.

The agency is saddled with the mandate to ensure that the practice of, and products from modern biotechnology do not harm human, animals, or plants health or the environment. Critics note the agency has said in the past that they are not set up to stop the deployment of GMOs but to regulate them. This raises questions about whether regulation should mean that GMOs should be banned altogether if they pose significant risks to humans and the environment, particularly given the Precautionary Principle, a key principle of the Cartagena Protocol to which Nigeria is signatory.

Nigeria's regulatory journey began when the country signed the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 and ratified it in 1994. This eventually produced a dedicated biosafety law in 2015, creating a specialised institution with legal authority to control importation, field trials, and commercialization of GM products. In 2019, the law was reviewed and amended to regulate emerging technologies such as gene editing and synthetic biology.

Under this framework, no GM crop can legally enter, be tested, or be grown without formal approval by NBMA, and violations attract penalties including fines of at least ₦2.5 million or imprisonment. Each crop undergoes multi-layered risk assessment covering allergenicity, toxicity, environmental interaction, biodiversity impact, effects on beneficial insects, and socio-economic implications.

Nigeria has approved one genetically modified cowpea variety and TELA maize variety after biosafety scrutiny. Farmers using the improved cowpea report harvest increases from about 3-4 bags per hectare to more than 20 bags, while some report harvesting over 80 bags from 100 kilograms of seed. In addition to yield gains, pesticide use drops dramatically. Farmers spray once instead of multiple times, cutting chemical exposure, lowering production costs, improving farmers' health, and saving the environment.

The Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture highlighted that most farmers in the state have adopted GMO crops, although a few remain apprehensive. "Some farmers fear GMO crops could cause cancer, but we have disabused these myths by providing seeds, including maize and sweet potato, to enhance health and nutrition," he said, noting that GMO crops could help address food insecurity by doubling yields compared to conventional crops.

A representative of farmers through traditional institutions stated that GMO crops offer higher yields, reduce production costs by 35-40%, and optimize nutrient management, while significantly lowering fertilizer use.

However, not all experiences have been positive. Cotton farmers who have planted GMOs for the longest time in Nigeria noted in 2024 that the GM Cotton (Bt Cotton) after three odd years of planting has not outperformed the conventional variety. They lamented that their soil was instead being degraded, possibly a result of the release of the CRY1Ab toxins (from Bacillus thuringiensis) in the Bt Cotton into the soils.

Critics also raise concerns about genetic contamination and seed control. Questions remain about who owns the intellectual property rights over the genetically modified seeds and what safeguards the NBMA has put in place to prevent gene transfer and contamination of Nigeria's local seed varieties. A number of other countries have put in place total or partial bans on GMOs based on this risk of genetic contamination. In 2024, Mexico placed an indefinite ban on genetically engineered corn, with courts saying that genetically engineered corn posed "the risk of imminent harm to the environment" and suspending "all activities involving the planting of transgenic corn in the country."

Genetically modified foods include plants, animals, or microorganisms whose genetic material has been altered using biotechnology. This can involve adding, removing, or silencing genes, often from unrelated species, to improve performance.

The African biotechnology market is projected to grow from about $615 million in 2018 to roughly $871 million by 2030. At the same time, African countries invest an average of just 3.8 percent of their national budgets in agriculture, far below continental commitments as contained in the Malabo Declaration.

Producers who previously lost harvests to pests are expanding cultivated areas after adopting approved seeds, moving from one hectare to five hectares, because the risk has been reduced. Adoption decisions in agriculture are conservative; farmers rarely expand production unless outcomes are predictable.