By Henry Umahi
For sometime, the Global Prolife Alliance (GPA), chaired by Dr. Philip Njemanze, has been advocating for the ban of cultivation and distribution of genetically modified organisms (GMO) seeds in Nigeria. According to the group, GMO foods are unsafe for human consumption, and the promoters of such items have a sinister motive to, ultimately, destroy Nigeria’s food security.
In a series of letters to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, Global Prolife Alliance disclosed that some foreign interests acquired a private army to train mercenaries hired from Africa and beyond to disguise as herdsmen, bandits and insurgents to kill farmers, who are the natural seed growers.
The GPA said, sometime ago, natural seed growers were tracked through technology and killed because natural seed growers were seen as competitors of biotech companies providing GMO foods.
The group said the latest system being advocated by some interested parties “is designed to track the identity and financial records of every Nigerian, to track and kill the most economically viable Nigerians, leaving in the country a people in abject poverty that could easily be controlled.
“The overall strategy is to capture the food security of Nigeria.”
It said some interests had intervened with deceptive programmes, leading to the death of many seed grower-farmers in Nigeria.
The group further said: “Our agricultural productivity has plummeted. Farmers cannot go to the farm for fear of being killed in their farms. Nigeria is now a nation in hunger, worse than a decade ago before the nefarious activities began.”
The group added that “GMO seeds deceptively called high-yield improved seeds do not replicate themselves; hence they are called ‘suicide seeds,’ that is, once planted and it grows, you cannot replant the next generation. The farmers have to go to the promoters every planting season to collect new seeds.”
The GPA said that it is at that “point that the promoters intend to dictate their terms to allow Nigerian people to feed on the toxic GMOs. “Meanwhile, because the GMO seeds are planted alongside the natural crops, the cross-pollination would make the natural seed also carry the GMO seed genes rendering them also GMO crops. This has a serious implication: for example, a 1% contamination of the natural crops would make them be classified as GMO; hence they will remain banned from European, Russian, American, and Asian markets.
“Agriculture in Nigeria would stop being a foreign currency earning sector of the economy. The foreigners are killing the Nigerian farmers, not Islamic extremists.”
The GPA said that since 2009, terrorists have been sponsored and branded Boko Haram, bandits and herdsmen to carry out genocide of farmers in Nigeria to capture Nigeria’s food security.
“Consider this, from 2015-2018, 37,500 farmers were killed, 32,000 were Muslims, and 5,500 were Christians. Despite the fact that 85% of the victims were Muslims, the international and local press propaganda mercenary branded it ‘Islamic terrorism.’
“Any attempt to uncover the truth is met by another orchestrated kidnapping of school children for ransom to depict it as criminal activity rather than well coordinated operations of the sponsors and their biotech accomplices. A corrupt set of people within the Nigerian government collaborated with the foreigners’ agenda, committing treason against their motherland. The time to end this is now!
“We urge the National Assembly and FG to ban all GMO seed cultivation and distribution in Nigeria.
“Amend the National Biosafety Management Agency Act 2015 to be based on precautionary principles in the Cartagena protocol.
“Repeal the National Health Act 2014 that authorizes collection of gametes and organs without consent. “Commence NASS hearings on the national security threat posed by biotech companies and their affiliates in Nigeria.”
The group also noted that GMO foods are banned in Europe.
An agripreneur, Mr Nnamdi Cos-Ukwuoma, posited that GMO is an evil wind and a conspiracy. He said: “Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) technology seems to defy nature. Nature renews itself. When this natural order is altered through scientific or laboratory-controlled genetic engineering or modification to introduce new traits into an organism (plant or animal) the effect can be catastrophic to humans and the ecology. GMO technology purports to create disease/pest resistant seed varieties and increase yield.
“It is natural that the farmer goes into the farm with seeds that will yield him a bumper harvest for consumption and more than enough for planting in the next farming season. But it is not so with most GMO seeds which never reproduce themselves and make the farmer dependent on the particular source of supply (patent owner and suppliers) year in, year out.
“Despite efforts by the new world order and developers of GMO to adduce seemingly convincing arguments to convince the agri-preneurs that their seeds which have been biochemically altered at the molecular level for their own interest and for reasons only known to them farmers have bluntly resisted accepting their seeds and their baits.
“Reasons include that GMO seeds deny farmers the natural privilege of re-using seeds from their farms or to sell to maximize profit. For instance, cassava stems harvested from some GMO cassava are sterile and cannot be used again. Farmers need to contact the developers for fresh order.
“As a biotechnology product, the development and use of GMO seeds are regulated by various government agencies and international organizations to ensure safety and environmental sustainability.”
He acknowledged that some sources insist that GMO seeds are inherently unstable and have the propensity of causing cancer, reproductive problems, organ damage, allergic reactions, immunosuppression and antibiotics resistance, etc.
Cos-Ukwuoma further said: “In deference to nature, in recent times, farmers have begun to embrace farming practices that support life and the environment. Organic farming is becoming popular among farmers. “But GMO and its protocols contradict practical organic farming and are highly dependent on chemicals for pest control and boosting yield.
“In the opinion of farmers and other major stakeholders, GMO is a conspiracy because its proponents are not seen as transparent in all matters relating to their activities and campaigns. In all, it is shrouded in secrecy.
“Purportedly powered by the new world order, it seems driven by the science of quick, certain and compulsive need for bountiful yields and immediate gratification.
“As a farmer, I shun GMO seeds and all their attractions because to me, they defy the natural order of multiplying seeds and boosting food production as against purely organic farming protocols.
“However, there is no compulsion or force on farmers to embrace GMO seeds. One needs to satisfy himself of his reason to go for these new seed varieties. Natural or organic seeds remain a rational preferred option for farmers.”
Interestingly, Founder of LoveWorld Incorporated better known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, has claimed that GMO corns cause hypertension hence it should be avoided.
In a live broadcast during a church programme, Oyakhilome said: “I’m sure many of you who don’t have an idea of organic corn. What it is. Don’t think of the one you’ve been buying in the market, in your local market I mean. Don’t think that one is really organic.
“Most countries don’t have the original corn anymore. It’s one of the earliest genetically modified crops, so most of what you’ve been eating is modified a long time ago.
“That’s why you have to do something; you have to think again. The earlier you stop it, the better because no one is giving you this information. They are not telling you that the unexplained hypertension that your grandfather suffered with, that your father and granduncle suffered with, and that you’re probably suffering with have something to do with corn.
“Almost all the people I’ve known that have high blood pressure all love corn and corn products but nobody ever told them that had anything to do with their problems.”
Dr Uchenna Lawrence Egwu, a lecturer at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), said: “The first commercially grown genetically modified crop was the Flavr Savr tomato, introduced in the early 1990s. Since then, many crops and animals like maize, soybeans, pigs, chickens and cattle have been genetically modified for various purposes.”
He noted that while there is broad scientific consensus that GMO foods currently on the market are wholesome, some people worry about potential long-term health effects.
Egwu said: “Concerns include the potential for GMO crops to crossbreed with wild relatives, leading to ecological imbalances, and the development of ‘superweeds’ resistant to herbicides.
“Some people object to GMOs on ethical grounds, arguing that humans should not interfere with natural organisms in such a fundamental way.
“GMOs offer significant benefits in terms of agricultural efficiency, environmental sustainability, and nutritional improvements. “However, they also raise important health, environmental, ethical, and socio-economic concerns.”
But Mr Thomas Unongo, Director of Agricultural Services, Benue State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, who is one of the biggest mix farmers; livestock and crop farmer, in Benue State, offered different perspective.
He said: “GMO foods are modified foods and they are done to obtain the desirable characters you are interested in getting in that product. It is now that people are thinking bad or otherwise of the products.
“But for us, we know that it has been developed long ago by plants breeders. Plant breeders have been working on improving the status of existing organisms or products. We call the issue breeding. You breed to improve the existing traits.
“Now, we have new mangoes, if you call these our Julie mango or Peter Mango GMO products and you don’t eat, you are wrong. We have several ways of getting a new plant apart from the seeds: we do budding, we do layering, there is nothing wrong with it.
“What you do is increase on the size of your potato, size of your coconut or your maize. You want bigger maize seeds, you are looking for a better product.
“The reason for this GMO is just simple. You know there have been rising population. Apart from we human beings, we are all raising animals all across the globe.
“The discussions on GMO products have been centered on all these grains and that they are modified. No, they are not modified, you need much so that we can feed these animals and also human beings.
“So, for some of us, we look at it as just a method to improve on the products so that we produce more for both human and animal consumptions. That is the reason for that, so that more is being produced.
“So, there is nothing wrong with it to me as a person. We’ve been doing it for long, it’s not just now that modified products are springing up. It has been done and nothing is wrong with it. It has no side effects. We have been consuming it and we didn’t know.
“If you go to the University of Agriculture Makurdi (FUAM) or Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev, in Benue here, you will see breeders.
“If you allow open pollination kind of breeding, if you don’t take time, if you plant a yellow maize, next year, you won’t have the same yellow maize you planted. You will even have white maize among the seeds and if you replant it the following year, you will have a mixture of brown and yellow maize. So people do it to protect the products they want to preserve. They want to preserve some kind of special attributes in products they want to preserve. So, in my opinion, it’s not something that is harmful.”
An EU report said: “GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. They are organisms whose genetic material has been artificially modified in order to give it a new property. For example this could be to make it easier for a plant to resist a disease, insects or drought or to increase crop productivity.”
According to the report, maize, cotton, soybean, oilseed rape and sugar beet are the main crops involved.
The further stated that “GMOs can only be cultivated or sold for consumption in the EU after they have been authorised at the EU level. This process includes a scientific risk assessment.
“Only one GMO has been approved for cultivation in the EU so far. Maize MON 810 was authorised for cultivation in 1998, but this authorisation has now expired and is waiting for renewal. In 2013 it was mostly cultivated in Spain and on a small scale in Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
“In the same year eight countries banned the cultivation of GMOs on their territory: Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Greece and Italy. It is possible that other countries could follow suit.”
It added: “Most of the GMOs authorised in the EU are used to feed farm animals, but some imported food might also contain them.
“The EU food labelling system obliges companies to indicate if the food or feed they produce contains GMOs. This applies when GMOs account for at least 0.9% of the food or the feed.
“Companies also have the option to indicate on a label that their product does not contain GMOs.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to suspend the introduction of GMO crops into the country pending the conclusion of a comprehensive investigation.
An EU report said: “GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. They are organisms whose genetic material has been artificially modified in order to give it a new property. For example this could be to make it easier for a plant to resist a disease, insects or drought or to increase crop productivity.”
According to the report, maize, cotton, soybean, oilseed rape and sugar beet are the main crops involved.
The further stated that “GMOs can only be cultivated or sold for consumption in the EU after they have been authorised at the EU level. This process includes a scientific risk assessment.
“Only one GMO has been approved for cultivation in the EU so far. Maize MON 810 was authorised for cultivation in 1998, but this authorisation has now expired and is waiting for renewal. In 2013 it was mostly cultivated in Spain and on a small scale in Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
“In the same year eight countries banned the cultivation of GMOs on their territory: Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Greece and Italy. It is possible that other countries could follow suit.”
It added: “Most of the GMOs authorised in the EU are used to feed farm animals, but some imported food might also contain them.
“The EU food labelling system obliges companies to indicate if the food or feed they produce contains GMOs. This applies when GMOs account for at least 0.9% of the food or the feed.
“Companies also have the option to indicate on a label that their product does not contain GMOs.”
