Environmental and public health advocates took to the streets of Lagos on Friday, urging the Lagos State House of Assembly to prohibit genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and enact policies that champion sustainable agroecology to tackle Nigeria’s food challenges.
Organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) under the banner “GMOs Will Not Address Nigeria’s Food Crises,” the advocacy rally kicked off at Computer Village in Ikeja before marching to the Assembly complex in Alausa.
Activists submitted a formal petition calling on lawmakers to protect indigenous seed varieties, safeguard smallholder farmers, and promote organic farming practices.
Speaking during the rally, Mr. Olamide Ogunlade of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) representing the OCA consortium emphasised that the campaign was designed to raise public consciousness and prompt direct legislative action against the increasing corporate control over Nigeria’s agricultural landscape.
“Lagos holds a strategically vital position,” Ogunlade noted, explaining that biosafety and agricultural policy choices made by the state could set a benchmark for national legislative debates.
He warned that relying heavily on synthetic agricultural inputs risks severe environmental degradation, urging policymakers instead to prioritize sustainable, organic farming models.
Reinforcing these concerns, Ms. Joyce Brown, Director of Programmes at HOMEF, pressed for a state-level ban on GMOs as a precedent for broader national policy.
Brown highlighted the risks GMOs pose to biodiversity, soil health, and long-term agricultural productivity.
“Cross-pollination between genetically modified crops and traditional varieties threatens to contaminate local seed lines,” Brown cautioned.
“This creates an unhealthy dependency where smallholder farmers lose control over seed saving and must rely continuously on commercial seed corporations for planting materials.”
Citing international precedents like Mexico, which has implemented strict restrictions on genetically modified crops, Brown urged Nigerian authorities to protect food sovereignty and halt all GMO approvals until comprehensive, independent long-term risk assessments are carried out.
She also called on the Federal Government to revisit a motion regarding biosafety concerns previously raised in the House of Representatives.
Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi, a molecular biologist and public health analyst with the Network of African Scientists in Biosafety, Biodiversity and Health, criticized regulatory agencies for approving genetically modified crops without resolving persistent public concerns.
According to Dr. Ifeanyi, over 16 genetically modified crops have received approval in Nigeria since the enactment of the National Biosafety Management Act in 2015, with imported processed foods frequently containing GMO-derived ingredients.
“Crucial questions remain unanswered regarding whether adequate baseline studies were conducted to examine potential links between GMO consumption and non-communicable diseases, changes in crop nutritional density, or impacts on soil microflora,” Ifeanyi stated.
He urged state assemblies nationwide to actively assess the public health and ecological implications of biotechnology policies, warning that reliance on patented seeds threatens traditional seed-sharing practices essential to local farming communities.
The rally concluded with advocates demanding greater public transparency, enhanced consumer access to information regarding agricultural technologies, and legislative backing for smallholder farmers leading Nigeria’s agroecological transition. (NAN)
