Agreement
By Ebere Agozie
Abuja, May 25, 2018 (NAN) National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has signed a training agreement with International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) , Italy, to boost its workers’ capacity in regulating biotechnology processes.
The Director-General of NBMA, Dr Rufus Ebegba and Mr Dennis Ndolo, the Programme Officer of ICGEB, signed the agreement on behalf of the two organisations in Abuja on Friday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a training session began immediately after the signing of the agreement.
Ebegba said that the agreement was on e-learning training, which was aimed at enhancing the operations of the agency.
He said that the agreement would enable NBMA to have access to the e-learning platform of ICGEB to train its employees in the workplace at its own pace, using materials provided by the centre.
“It is important to constantly upgrade the capacity of our workers who are there to regulate the sector due to the controversies that trail the technology.
“NBMA was not established to frustrate biotechnology but to ensure that Nigerians and their environment are protected against any harmful effect of modern biotechnology,” he said.
Ebegba stressed that science remained the driver of change globally due to its universality and verifiable nature, adding that modern biotechnology should, therefore, not be treated differently.
He said that every technology had its ups and down, adding, however, that the biosafety system was introduced so as to ensure that related uncertainties were either completely eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum.
“I am confident that the staff will benefit immensely from the training, as it will build their capacity to holistically understand the biosafety system.
Mr Dennis Ndolo, who is also ICGEB Lead Trainer, said that Nigeria remained the “leading light in the area of biosafety on the African continent’’.
He said that the staff of NBMA would be introduced to the centre’s e-learning platform, adding that they would eventually use the platform to enhance their knowledge and performance.
One of the participants, Mr Abisabo Adamu, a Senior Scientific Officer of NBMA, said that the training would help him to properly understand biotechnology processes and how to deal with issues relating to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).
“I am glad to be part of this training; we are being trained to be able to train others and I thank NBMA and ICGEB for organising the training,’’ he added. (NAN)
EPA/OOK
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