The Senate Committee on the Environment has lauded the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) over its modern state-of-the-art Genetic Modification (GM) detection and analysis laboratory.
The senators made the commendation during a visit to the agency to tour the laboratory.
Oluremi Tinubu chairman, Senate Committee on environment, in a statement made available to BusinessDay, said that the agency had in a short time of establishment, achieved a lot in terms of equipment and performance.
Tinubu who said the committee came to ascertain the level of performance for the two previous years of the agency’s budget, also commended Rufus Ebegba, the director-general and CEO of NBMA for achieving so much in a short period.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s genomic capacity for drug production grows on major investments
Ebegba presented the 2017 and 2018 budget performance to the committee, noting that the essence of the GM detection and analysis laboratory is to ensure that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are not allowed into the country without proper verification and authorisation.
Presenting the budget, the director-general of the agency said that in 2017 about N244 million was appropriated, about N172 million and N172 million was expended.
Rufus also said that for 2018, about N259million was appropriated, N26 million was released and N26 million has been expended so far.
The eight-man committee promised to relate the progress and needs of the agency back to the National Assembly for onward action.
