Minister of State for the Environment, Sharon Ikeazor
FG approves National Bio-security Policy
Federal Government has approved a new National Bio-security Policy for protection of the environment, human health and socio-economic development of the country.
Announcing the development, Minister of State for the Environment, Sharon Ikeazor said the approval was given at the special session of the Federal Executive Council meeting (FEC), in Abuja, Wednesday.
“The Federal Executive Council has approved the National Bio-security Policy and action plan 2022 – 2026 to ensure, among other things, bio-security for the protection of the environment and human health from harmful biological agents and to protect our socio-economic development.” Ikeazor explained.
The Minister noted that the Policy document aims to foster an integrated and holistic Bio-security strategy that will be implemented through One-health approach for the prevention, early detection, rapid response to bio-threats and recovery from bio-security incidents.
“This Policy is to ensure synergy and harmonization among Bio-security stakeholders for effective and efficient operations of the national bio-security systems. It is to ensure that all aspects of National and International Agreement, Conventions, Guidelines and other instruments on bio-security are duly taking into consideration.” Ikeazor stated.
Ikeazor said the National Bio-safety Management Agency, in Nigeria, NBMA, in setting the stage for the implementation of the Presidential directive, and in recognition of the fact that bio-security is a multisectoral discipline that cuts across several Ministries, Departments and Agencies, convened a Bio-security stakeholders’ consultative meeting in January 2020, to discuss and develop a workable national document and action plan to address all issues and concerns on bio-security for the country.
“After going through several reviews, stakeholders validated the draft National Bio-security Policy and Action Plan in September 2021, before it was presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval, We are very pleased with this approval in the environment sector, which gives the country a proper, comprehensive and workable document to tackle Bio-security issues and ensure that bio-threats are properly contained and even eliminated,” the Minister explained.
It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2019, assented to an amendment of the National Bio-safety Management Agency Act, 2015 mandating the NBMA to put measures in place to ensure bio-security in Nigeria.
