BY Emma Elebeke

THE Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced plans to build a standard biotechnology laboratory to empower national programmes in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Professor Ivan Ingelbrecht of Ghent University, Belgium disclosed this in Abuja when he visited the Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Ita Okon Bassey Ewa, as part of  his exploratory visit to the country on the proposed biotechnology laboratory.

“My mission in Nigeria as mandated by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to see the possibilities of empowering Nigeria: the National Systems, Programmes in Nigeria, to have the capacity to use biotechnology laboratory technologies for crop improvement”.

Bill Gates

“There are new sets of tools called biotechnology tools used nowadays worldwide to improve crops and these technologies are very complex and so far there are a number of crops developed using biotechnology tools, tested in various African countries including Nigeria. The crops have also been used even within Africa”, he said

The idea according to him, is to empower national programmes in Africa, and Nigeria specifically to train people on how to use facilities, so that they can produce these crops independently and Nigerians can have the capacity to decide on how to use these technologies in consideration of National regulatory system.

“The crops we are focusing on involves national priority crops in Nigeria, which include soybeans, rice, maize. Once we establish the capacities, human and also infrastructure and once you are able to make these types of crops, you can choose any crop of national interest to apply the process,” he noted.

Also speaking at the event, another member of the team and an Assistant Professor and Associate Director World Technology Access Program, WorldTAP of Michigan State University, Cholani Weebadde said “I am part of the Exploratory Visit Team with Professor Ivan trying to find out what is needed in Nigeria on capacity building”.

“Michigan State University has been working with African Biosafety Network of Expertise for the past several years; we are the international partners for the ABNE project, we have also worked with Nigeria for a number of years, we also have Africa Study centre in Michigan University and one of our professors has worked with Nigeria for more than 20years, we are excited to be part of this mission, and we are happy to be working with NABDA to train the scientist at Michigan University.”

“We have been involved in biotechnology capacity building for a number of years and my focus is basically human capacity that is needed in Nigeria, we need to know if there are bodies, people working, and the kind of human capacity that is needed and how we can help,” she disclosed.

Responding,  the  Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Okon Bassey Ewa said the Ministry has the cooperate responsibility to impact on  Science and Technology for socio economic development of Nigeria, and biotechnology is an  integral part of the system of studies that are directed to biological systems of both plant and animals.

“In human systems, we know the wide areas of intervention that biotechnology can add and assist bio-engineering, genomics in biological and zoological systems, we also have systems that are actually, perhaps within the plant system that are focused more or less on food security globally. In food security we look at systems that can enhance with the application biotechnology for a speedy realization of food security in the country’’ he stated.

On her part, the Permanent Secretary, Federal of the Ministry, Hajiya Rabi Jimeta, expressed happiness with the mission, adding that there is no doubt that biotechnology is a very important area in the Ministry of Science and Technology because of the number of benefits derivable from its activities, especially,  in terms of boosting agricultural production, and issue of food security and many other areas.