One of the major constraints of Nigeria’s biotechnology has been the of lack of regulatory mechanism which would enable the country to bring in various crop species that will encourage higher yield and also convince people to practice agriculture as a business. In this interview with KEHINDE AJOBIEWE and CHIBUNMA UKWU, the Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Bamidele Solomon, talks about the way forward.
Tell us about the activities of your organization?
The National Biotechnology Development Agency is a broad-based organization. The mandate is for us to bring about the gains of bio-technology in an accelerated manner to this country. The area of intervention is very wide – from agriculture to health, environment, as well as industry. In the area of agriculture, we stand in to ensure that the issue of food security, and the way we do that is by engaging in developing crops and animals, including living fish species that will ensure? improved yield, improved nutritional quality and, of course, make them? adaptable to the environment. In the area of crops, there are serious advances that would have been developed; we have worked with other organizations particularly in the agricultural research institutes of the country.
We have also been working on beans, but it’s not to improve the nutritional content of beans because beans is already highly nutritious, but to improve on the yield on the farm. The major problem of farmers in beans production is the pests that we call Maruca Gutrator, which is the caterpillar of Butterfly that normally devastate the crop. They eat voraciously, and sometimes the yield in the farmers’ crops can come down to less than 30 percent of what they are supposed to realize; so, that way, they have a reduction in production and therefore the cost will go up for the consumers.
? We have interventions in health: in the health area, the agency is carving out a niche for itself. One of it is in the area of how we can cure sickle cell anaemia, and so we have been working on what we call the ‘stem cell transplantation’. We are the custodian of the National Technical Committee on Stem Cell Transplantation in Nigeria. This transplantation is those techniques that can permanently cure sickle cell anaemia.
?There are management procedures that have been developed, either the use of sicklervid? or the use of nickosans which was being produced by dizeker; now these are management therapists. For now, we could cure if we can get a sufferer and a non-sufferer who are 100 percent genetically compatible. Thus, if we can remove part of the bone marrow of non-sufferer and use it to replace that of the sufferer, then he can start to produce completely the normal blood cells that are not sick. This is not theory; they are things that have been done. Though little risks might be encountered – such as rejection, but those are the things now where science and technology come in. In almost everything, there might be risks, but we work towards a situation whereby the risks might be minimised. So, a successful one had been carried out in the University of Benin. Then, the agency is working with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital to have a centre there that will be collaborating with a University in the Netherlands to study the genetic basis of hypertension. You have seen now that so manypeople are dying at a very young age – you just see them sitting in the room and collapsing. Thus by the study, we want to see if it is something that runs in the gene. What is that gene that is really responsible for hypertension? Why is it transferable from parents to their offspring? In that case, we will be able to know who is prone and then they can take a proactive measures to manage it. Many people die of hypertension because of lack of management, but they can get to know exactly what to do in order to manage it. So this is one aspect. Then on the other part, the agency has an area particularly on the production of diagnostic kits which have been developed, and there is the capability to develop more – like typhoid and any other ailments,? so that it will not take too much time to know exactly what an ailment is and we'll be able to diagnose all the ailments one would think of.
How does NABDA hope to coordinate all the projects so as to give a productive result?
The coordination of the projects, of course, is the part of the reasons we have so many departments. NABDA has five technical departments which include: the agricultural department, medical biotechnology department, food and industrial department and others. Each department is meant to be focused on the particular project assigned to it. For example, the medical biotechnology department is focusing on the medical part while the food and industrial look into issues that deal with fuel production. The agency is developing the ability to produce ethanol as well as developing micro-organisms that can stand high level of ethanol, and very efficient converters. We are also working on enzymatic procedures for the conversion of vegetable oil; instead of using acid and alkaline, we are using these ones for that purpose.
Would you say that Nigerians have started feeling the impact of the activities of NABDA? If not when should it be expected?
One fact is that this is a new agency? – it was established in 2001,? but I will still say that our impacts are already being felt. For example, in the area of tissue culture, there are already farmers that are using some of the products of our tissue culture facilities to establish their farms, and a particular type is one that had been established by Governor Donald Duke in Calabar to produce pine apples, but in the area of the hard corn you want to call modern biotechnology for plant genetic modified organisms, Nigerians have not yet started to benefit, and the major constraint of that is due to lack regulatory mechanism, which is mandatory. This means that there must be a safety Bill and a safety regulatory agency, and it is that agency that can legitimise the commercialisation.So far, we can only do what is called the confined field trial but as soon as Mr. President appends his signature to this Bill. Within a year or two, Nigerians will get to see the benefits.
After more than 10 years of existence as an agency, what would you say are the major constraints militating against Nigeria becoming self-dependent in food production?
One of the major constraints basically in Nigeria is the issue of lack of regulatory mechanism which will allow us to bring in the types of crops that will bring higher yield and would encourage more people to go into agriculture as a business, not something you must do under hardship. So these are some of the factors. Another problem that we face in that direction is the production of soya bean. In the United Kingdoms, soya bean cultivation is done to provide the major source of protein either for their poultry or their animals and soya bean is harvested after three months, but soya bean needs a lot of weeding. But in Nigeria, soya bean could be planted but some people would not want to weed so as a way around that, it is biotech solution to produce a soya bean specie that is tolerant to herbicides. We call it the herbicide-tolerant soya bean.
Still on food, most Nigerians are concerned and would wish to know the present state of food security in Nigeria.
Well, Nigeria presently imports most of what she eats, especially rice, beans, bread, etc, from Thailand. Even fish is also imported into the country. If anything should make ships not to come into Nigeria anymore, what do you think we will have? If also anything should happen to the crops in Thailand or they refuse to sell us rice anymore, what do you think that will also be? I cannot say particularly we are food-secure. However, I know that the country is doing well in the production of yams, so the major work that we need to do is to come up with how these yams could be stored and converted in forms that will make them last for a longer time so as to meet needs in? the time of scarcity.
What is the major source of funding for this organisation?
Government has been the major source of funding for this organisation and it has to be the government for it to stand. But we have some little external funding that come from organisations such as the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and the USAID and some other auxiliary organisations. They help us, especially in the area of advocacy, enabling us to have the necessary laws. Also, as we began getting our laboratories ready, other funds started coming in from there. Thus we generate funds from the various organisations, but one must still have the baseline funding coming from the government while the money that will be used for indepth Research and Development (R&D) can come from other organisations.
Would you say that these funding has been enough?
Not at all. I will say that the funding has not been consistent. It is also unpredictable, and when you get a capital budget that you are not sure will be released, you cannot plan sustainably. So you may plan and see on appropriation that you have been given N1billion but at the end of the year, you get N300 million thereby making you miss your target, as science is a precise thing, not something that you do halfway. So, the method of the funding has not been very helpful to the development of science and technology. So the way that we think that this could be addressed is to have a dedicated fund called Science and Technology Fund such as Educational Trust Fund (ETF), Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). We should also have one that will not be dependent on the happenings of the central budget and fuel subsidies. This way, scientists will know exactly what they have to do for a year and do it uninterruptedly and with focus.
What have been your achievements in the recent years?
We have driven the approval of the Bio-safety Bill to the extent that it has been passed by the National Assembly; all that is left is for the President to sign it and, once that is done, then we shall be equipped to surprise Nigerians. In fact, we are seriously waiting for it as it will pour in investment in the areas of agriculture and biotechnology generally.
Speaking of surprising Nigerians, what does NABDA seek to achieve in the next two years?
In the next two years, I want this country to have the BT-cotton fully in every farmer`s farm. I also want diagnostic kits fully domesticated so that most of the diagnostic kits that are used in hospitals would be produced and developed by Nigerians. I also want more of GM (genetically modified) foods? in the farmer`s field. And for the issue of fuel, I want the technology for the production of ethanol completed.