The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), says it was providing efficient guidelines, to improve Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for a strong biosafety system in the country.

This was in addition to programmes policies and processes, according to Dr Rufus Ebegba, Director-General of the agency.

He was speaking at a Review meeting of the Draft National Guidelines on genetically modified plants with stacked genes, organised by the NBMA, in Abuja.

Ebegba said that the agency was working on how to improve the system, by providing new guidelines and programmes to strongly have a national biosafety system.

According to him, the agency wanted to provide guidelines that would always be a testimony to what we are as a GMO country.

“GMOs are organisms in which genetic material was altered by genetic engineering technology.

“We are looking at this from the fact that genes have various interactions; when two genes are put into one organism they interact within themselves and also within the organism.

“We want to properly know that so that we could establish whether they are the type that is harmful to man and to the environment.

“We will also look at the issues of stacking genes, stacking products that are already genetically modified, and also the ones that were not modified.

“So, the guidelines we want to review is going to give us, particularly the developer of GMOs products, a better understanding of what we need to do.

“We need to understand this and then put it down in black and white so that there would be no arguments when we come up with such guidelines," he said.