Arent the leaders both traditional and political meant to promote indigenous products?
And she wonders why she is backward

Dollyak:
By far the most intellectual leader to come out of this country. I am sucker for braino.

You're a sucker for yourself

You better spend you cash here in Nigeria.
With 345k you will visit different states in Nigeria.
I'm sure there are places you haven't even visited here in Nigeria that will make you marvel at what you have in your country.
Proudly Naija

Lol this is indeed funny.
But then I'm flattered

Dollyak:
Watch nl guys log off to go and have a wankk fest over this. The guests will surely increase.

Come on, we aint that bad

logica:
Akintola once referred to the University of Ibadan in which the Igbo VC elected to employ 109 Igbos and just 3 Yorubas right there in the Yoruba heartland. He mentioned this in a video aptly titled "Idi wahala laarin Yoruba ati Igbo". Now you think of it; what manner of a person can be so brazenly nepotistic? You bring a stranger into your house in the name of "Pan Africanism", then rather than feed your children, he starts taking your food to the land he came from. That person takes you for a great f0ol and has no iota of regard for you; neither does he know what decorum is.

That summarizes the problem. It goes beyond the civil war. It was there before the civil war, and it remained after.

We obviously can't ever be equal, I think the best thing is for us to go our separate ways.
A Yoruba cherishes his name, an Igbo man wants money at any cost an Hausa man prefers his cattle to his own child.

We all have different goals and idealogies and can't totally integrate not even in the next 300 years!
Let us divide, it is the best thing for us.
Nature divided us and we should accept it as God's plan.

It takes a great deal of effort and time for an outsider to know the truth about America, it takes even greater effort for an American to know the truth about "America".
Kudon to the writer.

A very intelligent reply lol.
Of all problems, we shouldn't be bothered about this. I mean this shouldn't be an issue for us.
I do no know about other cultures, but mine without Christianity or Islam or even Paganism does not support homosexuality.
If the western world loves homosexuals and feels they should be given equal rights with normal people, then they should invite them and make them live permanently with them.
The Yoruba culture doesn't support homosexuality, that I am sure of.

A detailed explanation lol

tinuolababy:
What's so unofficial about speaking hausa on bbc hausa?

I'm here to read Tinuola's comment

Is that Hoebarma?

Mogidi:
We will end up eating our senators, I'll eat Senator Remi Tinubu.

This one na cannibal na

The biggest fool will fight for a cause that he doesn't know the true cause.
Just look at this

People are so impatient, they dwell on lies and deceit. This is the true story for those that care to be enlightened........
By Babajide Komolafe
"The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned importers of rice, cement and 38 other products from purchasing dollars from the foreign exchange market.
Details later"

The op

Is it that hard to do good and be applauded?
Why do the son of men embrace so much evil and hatred?its indeed true that a man is his biggest foe.
Conquer yourself before leaping out to do others.

Upnepaa:
*Grabs vaseline *

Grab kini for those?
You better don't tell anyone, you're done for

They ooze of affluence.

ROSSIKE:


Good news. We need to make sure we indigenize the incoming technology as quickly as possible, so it becomes self-generating and self-improving from within. We don't want to depend on them indefinitely.

You are smart.
Exactly what I thought, its all about awareness.
Hopefully some politicians and big guns won't turn it into a family and friends institution.

By Zakariyya Adaramola
China will help Nigeria develop its space technology to meet up with those of developed economies, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiao Jie, has said.

Jie made the promise when he visited the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) in Abuja.

He said China would facilitate the establishment of an assimilation centre in Nigeria where serious space work would be carried out.

According to the Chinese ambassador, China would also help Nigeria in its quest to launch satellite on its ground.

Responding, the NIGCOMSAT Managing Director, Abimbola Alale, said Nigeria would continue to tap from China's wealth of experience in space technology.

She said space technology could help increase Nigeria's revenue base if adequately utilized.



http://allafrica.com/stories/201506151645.html

Pan-African

gj22:


Are you suggesting that oil theft if a greater problem than bh?
Do you watch the news? Do you know about the war in Syria? Don't you know that that could be Nigeria in a flash if the BH problem is not tackled before it escalates? Don't you know that thousands of nigerians, if not tens of thousands, have died already from the BH problem?
Or you think because you are not in that region and you are not in immediate danger it can't get to you?is it until it escalates before you know that every single life is important?

Tell me what will be the point of oil when the whole of Nigeria is at war with each other.

I can't believe you are suggesting that catching oil thieves should come before saving lives of citizens.

Oh brother how do I make you see what I'm seeing
Okay
After the inauguration steps have been taken to counter the BH insurgency.
The time to time arrival of weapons to the military,the multi task force of the neighbouring nations,the money donated and the funds released to the NA by the the General.

That is in the NE

Now in the South we have militants in the ND region,who I call "Pirates Of The Niger Delta"
These pirates go from stealing on water to stealing on land, they destroy pipelines, the also assault the so called "Police"
What kind of effrontery is that?
Where on sane Earth do you see that happening?
So Baba just came in and he had a meeting with the service chiefs and the hideouts of the militants are blown up.
How is that a sin?

A good government must be able to carry out its various objectives simultaneously.

So because BH is ravaging the NE, we should neglect the militants in the ND?
Let me inform you that the same BH was once like the militants in Calabar.

This strike is a warning to all militants
Get used to it that this government will condone no nonsense from any region.
Whether in the North/South.
Cheers

gatiano:
You are right, to gather people to rally, well GMO people backed by most of the american banks, the western governments had already thought you would want to rally, and they have counter measures for that. remember you are not fighting to bring democrazy that american and england may supply us with weapons to kill ourselves. brother, we are against not the flesh, but powers and principalities from the high places. rally is good, but rally alone will fall into their trap. let learn from history, whenever an organisation is formed, hypocrites easily infiltrates, we've got them inmillions in nigeria. They target the leadership of the organisation, they pledge money to the organisation from a daughter company of american company we know nothing about, money begins to cause trouble in the leadership, the organisation is dead. they will hire ambassador for the products, you already know nigerian actors will never refuse the offer, they will even hire pastors. the black people are not that clever or critical thinkers, lets face the truth. they will counter the efforts of the rally. however that is not to say we shouldn't rally. but lets make it a counter effort by making the products unprofitable to them, within a shortwhile, they would leave. the government banning them will only make them resort to another trick. even after most countries banned them, they still manage to bring the foods in and labelled it non-gmo, now people are dieing slowly without even getting employed in the first place if they were allowed to run their gmo products. They have planned well for years, they are full of tricks and lies.

my opinion for a solution is that we learn about the difference between natural food and the devil's food(gmo). once we know that, we should teach people starting from the poor people around us, our family and friends, and family and friends will tell or inform their own family and friends, we can make it a greeting. "how far?, nothing much, how was your day? fine are you gmoing(gmo), yes, you are fading, if no, na you day enjoy life o. something like this. make gmo a thing of joke. show the difference to people.

2) we should grow our own foods, some people buy plant pot for decorative flower, weed that thing out and plant okra, tomatoes and carrot in it, use your backyard. i will begin to learn it myself. when GOD created Adam, he gave him the land to till. we must go back to the farm.

3) the most important thing is to eat like a MAN, like GOD intended for us to eat, eat to live. according to Elijah Muhammad, food no matter how good and natural keep us here (alive), and food takes us out(kills us), it is so true as a med student. it is like the stomach is programmed to digest a certian amount of food, when that number is getting to the end, we begin to grow weak and fall sick, and when it is exceeded the time of number of digestion, then that is the end.
God instructed that we should EAT ONE MEAL A DAY OR ONE MEAL EVERY OTHER DAY (TWO DAYS OR THREE). it was difficult for me to do even now because since i was born i ate close to 4 to 5 times a day, i almost died, i started having rheumatism, back pain, hormonal problem (thyroid and somatocin or growth) and you know down down problems too almost started, almost perceiving diabetic symptoms, overweighing my body structure, becoming superman in the toilet (i went to war with my behind in toilet each time), acne (throat hanging while sleeping), powerful turbine engine snoring etc. these won't cause you so much pain, so one might tend to ignore them. all this are simply as a result of eating normally, 3 times a day. when my friends see me, they say "you dey chop live", wrong! i was dieing. to proof to you, you can tell for sure when you are thirsty as you can tell for sure when you fight for breath. can anybody tell me the exact feeling of hunger, except those in war or those of hunger strike, those of hungerstrike went 74 days without food. i began 1 meal a day, even while not discipline enough about it, in two months my life changed, i didn't spend 1 kobo, infact i saved more money, my family saw the difference, they are now trying to eat the same way. the reason why GOD gave us fasting was to detoxicate ourselves, if not we will all be dead, and that too is not fasting. DO NOT TOUCH, SEE, SMELL HOW MUCH MORE EAT THE PORK OR SWINE OR HAM! It is a blackman's natural killer, infact and all mankind too, it is not treatable.

following these rules amd much more i believe you brilliant people will think up will bankrupt the nigerian mosanto and their associates here, when they don't get profits, and they can't kill, the devil leaves you alone.

scientifically, the stomach under digestion and absorbtion can't work with the brain (the brain and stomach can't work at the same time), when the stomach is working, digesting a simple tomtom or orange juice or nasco buscuits, the brain has stop functioning instantly. what you may perceive has think is what you already know by hand or heart. so if we eat three times a day, what time do we have for critical thinking? the stomach doesn't work while sleeping, it stores up food till the following morning, storing food in the stomach overnight is dangerous, waking up with extremely bad breath, and bad breath all day long.
it turns out that it reduces corruption, you have all the resources to feed yourself accordingly, why then the dirty money? it reduces uncontrollable urges too.

we will think well, live long and save more.

start teach the poor and uneducated people, they listen and comply because they listen and want to better themselves. the rich think they are better already, they don't listen that is why it is said that "the rich man entering into the kingdom of heaven is like a camel going through the hole base of a needle.

i do hope i make some sense.

I'm about to save this write up.
A billion kudos to you

Mr Adesina asserts,

“Nigeria is putting in place bio safety laws to regulate use of modern biotechnology. Consumer and environmental safety are priority for us.”

Ify Aniebo a molecular geneticist had this to say about the consumer and environmental safety of Monsanto GMO.

“The few scientific researches done on the effects of these foods on humans have showed stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomachs, abnormal and potentially precancerous cell growth in the intestines, impaired blood cell development, misshaped cell structures in the liver, pancreas and testicles, altered gene expression and cell metabolism, liver and kidney lesions, partially atrophied livers, inflamed kidneys, less developed organs, reduced digestive enzymes, higher blood sugar, inflamed lung tissue, increased death rates and higher offspring mortality as well.

After GM soy was introduced in the UK, allergies from the product skyrocketed by 50 percent, and in the U.S. in the 1980s, a GM food supplement killed dozens and left five to 10 thousand others sick or disabled. Repeated use of seeds like Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready soybeans results in vicious new super-weeds that need far greater amounts of stronger herbicides to combat. Their toxic residues remain in crops that humans and animals then eat. Even small amounts of these toxins are endocrine disruptors that can affect human reproduction adversely. Most recently, tests showed the presence of the herbicide glyphosate, widely used with Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant GM soybean and maize varieties, in samples of mothers’ breast milk in the United States.”. Ify Aniebo (BSc, MSc, MRes, MPH)is a molecular geneticist from Oxford University, with a master’s in public health She was also recognized by Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan during the centenary celebrations as an inventor and innovator.

Again i ask what is Monsanto doing in Nigeria?

The minister presents the bio-safety law as an infrastructure that would look out for the interest of Nigerians by rigorously testing GMO products to ensure they are safe for consumption as well as the ecosystem. Here is what the Chairman, Senate committee on science and technology, Prof. Robert Boroffice, had to say on the Bio-Safety bill.

“I can speak authoritatively that Mr. President will be anxious to enact a Bio-safety law, when he gets the passed bill before him, for the interest of the country, he will sign, So that Monsanto and other countries can come to Nigeria to assist us in boosting agricultural production not only in food but also in area of cotton, cowpea, maize, tomatoes.”

Somehow before the bill has been passed it is clear Monsanto has Pre-qualified? Is that how a Bio-safety bill should work Mr. Minister? It is clear that this Bio-safety bill is nothing more than a gateway to guarantee Monsanto’s entry into Nigeria. This coupled with the minister’s framework (which is available online) makes it clear the focus is on big business as opposed to the safety and welfare of the Nigerian people.

Mr Adesina asserts,

“We must not become misinformed by those that want Africa to remain backward, with misguided anti-technology views. “

Let’s see how Monsanto GMO has fared in other parts of the world. In India for example, Monsanto crop failures are linked to the suicides of 300,000 cotton farmers.

According to physicist and author Vandana Shiva, Monsanto’s contributions to a “suicide economy” in India, such as an increase in the price per kilogram of cotton seeds from 7 to 17,000 rupees. Shiva lists additional complications:

“Indigenous cotton varieties can be intercropped with food crops. Monsanto’s Bt-cotton can only be grown as a monoculture. Indigenous cotton is rain fed. Bt-cotton needs irrigation. Indigenous varieties are pest resistant. Bt-cotton, even though promoted as resistant to the bollworm, has created new pests, and to control these new pests, farmers are using 13 times more pesticides than they were using prior to introduction of Bt-cotton. And finally, Monsanto sells its GMO seeds on fraudulent claims of yields of 1500/kg/year when farmers harvest 300-400 kg/year on an average.”

According to HRH Prince Charles of England:

The crisis, branded the ‘GM Genocide’ by campaigners, was highlighted recently when Prince Charles claimed that the issue of GM had become a ‘global moral question’ – and the time had come to end its unstoppable march. He condemned ‘the truly appalling and tragic rate of small farmer suicides in India, stemming… from the failure of many Monsanto GM crop varieties’.

In Brazil, five million Brazilian farmers are locked in a lawsuit with US-based biotech giant Monsanto, suing for as much as 6.2 billion Euros. “Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production,” Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers in the latest installment of the legal battle erupting in South America, the Brazilian court has ruled in favor of the Brazilian farmers, saying Monsanto owes them at least US$2 billion.

So I ask for the umpteenth time Sir, what is Monsanto doing in Nigeria?

Mr Adesina uses a myopic and simplistic analogy to trivialize our health concerns in relation to risks associated with GM technology. He speaks of donkeys and planes, phones and match boxes.

Dr Adesina, Prof Borroface, have two million people marched against the airline industry or one Airline Company? Have 2 million people marched against the mobile phone industry? The answer is a resounding NO. Two million people all around the world in 436 cities have marched against Monsanto globally protesting the negative health effects and harm their technology does to human beings and the environment. Why? Because the risks associated with this technology far outweighs the benefits.

But Ill humour you, let’s say those two million people and everyone i have quoted in this article is anti-science and needs in your words “educating”, Are the 6 countries of the G8 anti-science too?

Is the Technology Powerhouse – Japan anti-science? Yet they banned GMOS and have strong bio-safety laws PREVENTING and INHIBITING the importation of GMO products in to their country. France and Manufacturing powerhouse Germany banned Monsanto cultivation and GMO products. Italy banned cultivation of Monsanto and GM products. England does not allow cultivation of Monsanto crops and only allows GM products in to the country as animal feed and even this is under scrutiny. Lastly, the world super power Russia banned all Monsanto products as well as GM products entering the country.

In the words of the Russian Prime minister, Medvedev

“If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food,”

While our Minister and Senator are trying to pass a bill to allow Monsanto to come in to Nigeria,

Russia is passing a bill to treat producers of biotech crops from companies such as Monsanto, The Dow Chemical Company , and Syngenta as criminals, with fines comparable to terrorism. As co-author of the bill Kirill Cherkasov said,

”When a terrorist act is committed, only several people are usually hurt. But GMOs may hurt dozens and hundreds. The consequences are much worse. And punishment should be proportionate to the crime.”

So the question remains and I ask again, WHAT IS MONSANTO DOING IN NIGERIA?

Mr. Minister, Mr. Senator, Do you have as robust an infrastructure as Russia, Japan or France? Do you plan to set it up overnight? Do you have the scientific infrastructure to monitor Monsanto?  Mr. Minister you clearly need to educate the leaders of all these great nations as well once you are done educating me. Do you have more scientists at your disposal than France, Germany or Japan? Or are we basing our policy on America and what America tells us is safe? A nation which is controlled by ‘Profit at any cost corporations’?

A speech made by US Rep Dennis Kucinich on the house of congress floor:

“In 1992 the Food and Drug Administration decided that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are the functional equivalent of conventional foods. They arrived at this decision without testing GMOs for allergenicity, toxicity, anti-biotic resistance and functional characteristics. As a result hundreds of millions of acres of GMO crops were planted in America without the knowledge or consent of the American people: no safety testing and no long term health studies. The FDA (Americas’s version of NAFDAC) has received over a million comments from citizens demanding labelling of GMOs. Ninety percent of Americans agree. So, why no labelling? I’ll give you one reason: The influence and the corruption of the political process by Monsanto. Monsanto has been a prime mover in GMO technology, a multi-million dollar GMO lobby here and a major political contributor.’

Mr Adesina asserts,

“Unless Africa uses modern technologies, our farmers’ output will remain low and we will remain dependent on others to feed us”

On this I agree with Mr. Minister, So I ask, Sir have you fully mechanized the Nigerian Agriculture sector? Do farmers have access to funding in the form of soft loans? Of all the money purportedly set aside for the agricultural sector, how many farmers have ACTUALLY accessed those funds? How is Nigeria doing with regards to the Maputo declaration? You clearly have a reference for what optimum productivity should be… do Nigerian farmers get subsidized like their European or American counterparts? Do they? Yet according to the IMF, in its largest countries by agricultural output at Purchasing Power Parity, Nigeria is ranked No 5, second to the USA which is ranked No 4 and all this was achieved without machinery and without access to funds or subsidies like their American counterparts.

Clearly giving them all that is too much work, so you propose magic seeds? Nigeria is dependent on imports not only due to previous issues raised, but also the fact that we do not process our products e.g rice. Till today Nigeria a nation is boasting about $900million revenue from the export of raw cocoa. Raw Cocoa in the 21st century, Cocoa has made men fortunes since the 1800s yet we still export raw cocoa. Mars Inc made $30billion annual turnover and that is just one chocolate company. Ignoring all the byproducts of Cocoa processing surely it would make a lot more sense for Nigeria to at least process her cocoa?

Nigerian leadership has to evolve from its Fire brigade paradigm in which it favors Corporations and special interest to exploit the nation at the detriment of its people. Case in point, The Niger Delta people complained for years concerning the destruction of their land and their waters and they could not feed themselves. Leadership ignored their calls. Champions of their cause lost their lives. Nigeria behaved as though the oil was for Nigeria but the oil spill was for the Niger delta. It was only when these people after years of complaints took up guns that Nigerian leadership paid attention. Today we pay billions in amnesty every year. What would it have cost Nigeria to have listened back then? To have enforced oil companies to clean up and do the right thing as they do in their own countries? Would it not have been cheaper for Nigeria on the long run? We are paying this price in the North currently because leaders have put selfish interest above those of the Nigerian people.

Argentina the poster child of Monsanto is currently experiencing what I just spoke of. Research released from communities around farms where Monsanto is implementing its technology showed an increase in risk for defects at birth due to exposure to pesticides in mothers. The specific defects included were limb reduction, urogenital anomalies, CNS defects, orofacial clefts, heart conditions, and ocular defects.

So again I ask WHAT ARE MONSANTO AND THE LIKES DOING IN NIGERIA?

When full mechanization of Nigerian agriculture is achieved, extension service to farmers increased to meet world standards and farmers have access to loans, Nigeria will feed herself independently without the need to resort to GMO.

Monsanto and the likes have no business in Nigeria and the Bio-safety bill should not be passed because it is merely a charade to get Monsanto into the country. I’ll tell you why two million people march against Monsanto and not cell phone companies. Food and water are the most basic requirements for human life. God in his wisdom made our sources of food renewable. Monsanto through its patent laws and systems seeks to own, control and charge for what has been given to us freely. This makes Nigeria dependent on foreign bio-tech firms to feed. So Mr. Minister there is no confusion here, this is what we stand against. The fact that six out of the eight countries that make up the G8 have banned the cultivation of GM foods for consumption in their own countries but formed an alliance to promote and fund this initiative in our country is something every Nigerian needs to ponder on.

ALTHOUGH THIS ISNT A NEW EVENT, IT HAPPENED LAST YEAR BUT KINDLY READ CAREFULLY.







The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina responded to the article  written by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour about Genetically modified foods. The article was posted on our website  here. The Minister replied via the comment section of this article and also on the Ministry of Agriculture Website in the news section – http://www.fmard.gov.ng/news_inside.php?nid=118.

 Below is Dr Adewumi Adesina’s reply concerning GMO.

I read this and was shocked at the level of total misrepresentation. There is nothing correct in all this write up. I normally don’t respond to these kind of things, but feel Gbadebo should be educated on facts. First, Nigeria does not have GMOs. Second, all the seeds used by farmers in Nigeria are from conventional breeding, and we allow farmers to reuse their own seeds. Third, we support biodiversity and promote both in-situ and ex-situ gene banks for ensuring local biodiversity is conserved. Fourth, we promote sensible and responsible use of modern technologies to address complex problems of diseases and pest, climate change and malnutrition.

The author unfortunately confuses biotechnology with GMOs, which is done to deliberately misinform the population. He does not understand science. Noise is not fact nor science. Through conventional breeding and biotechnology we have safe nutrient enriched crops such as pro-vitamin A cassava, orange-flesh sweet potato, drought resistant maize, flood resistant rice and bananas resistant to virulent black sigatoka disease that can wipe out all of Nigeria’s and Africa’s bananas, and cassava varieties resistant to cassava bacterial blight that can wipe out Africa’s largest source of food. Does he expect us to fold our hands and do nothing and watch poor farmers go into such devastation?

All the seed companies in Nigeria use conventional breeding. Nigeria is putting in place bio safety laws to regulate use of modern biotechnology. Consumer and environmental safety are priority for us. But we must develop and we must use new technologies. Responsible use of technologies, while managing and preserving biodiversity and the environment and consumer safety is the role of government.

As Minister of Agriculture for Nigeria, I assure you that this is being done. But we must not become misinformed by those that want Africa to remain backward, with misguided anti-technology views.

To communicate, you can use mobile phone (despite associated risks with brain cancer) or tie strings to match boxes or use town criers as done in old times. The former is modern technology. I am sure the writer uses mobile phones, yet it has risks! Why not try communicating with match boxes with strings: after all, it is a safe technology! You can travel by plane or donkey. The former generates C02, but everyone uses it to travel. Why not try traveling to Europe by donkey?

We must be factual, sensible and responsible in our reporting. Nigeria is working hard to empower its millions of farmers with appropriate technologies to lift them out of poverty into wealth. Over 95% of all our agribusinesses are locally-owned companies. I believe in food sovereignty, that is why I am pushing daily for Nigeria to be free from dependence on food imports to feed ourselves. We will feed ourselves with dignity, lift millions of our people out of poverty. But scare mongering with deliberate misinformation as done by Gbadebo and similar anti-technology apologists is not the way to go. His assertions are totally misguided and misinformed.

Unless Africa uses modern technologies, our farmers’ output will remain low and we will remain dependent on others to feed us. That is definitely not the way to have food sovereignty. That will only deepen dependency on others. We must feed ourselves with dignity and we must use appropriate modern technologies to do so, give choices to farmers, while preserving biodiversity, building environmental resilience, robust ecosystems and protecting health and well being of our people.

That is exactly what we are doing.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
Minister of Agriculture
Nigeria

 

RESPONSE BY GBADEBO RHODES-VIVOUR

With All due respect, Mr Adesina’s response aside from being vague and empty has not addressed any concerns raised by my article. In playing politics with the Nigerian people, he has spoken about everything except the ELEPHANT in the room.

Mr Adesina asserts,

“Nigeria does not have GMOs.”

Sir, WHAT IS MONSANTO DOING IN NIGERIA? In the month of May 2014, an article titled ‘‘Government okays introduction of 40 hybrid seeds in Nigeria” was published in the Guardian newspaper.  Another article titled “Monsanto to introduce 40 new seed varieties.”,  was also published and Monsanto’s vice president, Michael Frank was quoted saying that MONSANTO would focus on maize, soybean, cotton and oil-grape seed production in Nigeria.

According to the NABDA boss (Nigeria Biotechnology Development Agency), Nigeria already has three genetically engineered crops in confined field trial. He names them as BT cowpea in Zaria, the African bio-fortified sorghum also in Zaria and the Cassava plus at the National Root Crops Institute at Umudike, Abia State. The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) in Zaria in association with Monsanto and CSIRO in Australia have created Bt Cowpea using genes derived from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis  (which was provided by Monsanto) and have carried out field trials (Ezezika & Dall, 2012).

 Mr Minister there is nothing conventional or natural about Monsanto Transgenic modifications, neither is there anything natural about inserting DNA from bacteria into cowpea. It is clear from these experiments and associations, that Nigerian agencies and institutes have become merely surrogates for experimentation on behalf of foreign/commercial interests.



Monsanto in Nigeria: L-R: President Europe Middle East and Africa, Monsanto, Mr Jose Manuel Madero, Vice President, International Row Crops and Vegetables, Monsanto, Mr. Mike Frank and Honourable Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mrs Asabe Asmau Ahmed during a courtesy call to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by Monsanto in Abuja 

 



Monsanto in Nigeria: L-R: President Europe Middle East and Africa, Monsanto, Mr Jose Manuel Madero, Vice President, International Row Crops and Vegetables, Monsanto, Mr. Mike Frank, Honourable Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mrs Asabe Asmau Ahmed, Commercial Lead West Africa, Monsanto, Natalia Voruz and Business Development Manager, Monsanto Nigeria, Mr Kehinde Johnson during a courtesy call to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by Monsanto in Abuja 

 

 

Mr Adesina asserts,

“All the seeds used by farmers in Nigeria are from conventional breeding, and we allow farmers to reuse their own seeds”

Is that the Monsanto Model? There are so many case studies around the world that proves that this is not Monsanto’s model.  Prof. Iwu had this to say about the Monsanto Model.

“One of the things they do and they do badly is that they will bring these things, they will give our farmers seeds for example and they will plant these seeds. Regardless of whether the seeds are safe or not you cannot replant the seeds the next year. You will go back and start buying from them and after a while there will be total dependency. And these things can be airborne and they can destroy our farms and so on.” Prof. Maurice Iwu, Professor of pharmacognosy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)

Nnimmo Bassey had this to say about the Monsanto model,

“We cannot be force-fed by a savage biotech industry that seeks to colonise African seeds and food systems. The fact that GMOs will not feed the world is well studied and documented. See the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, for example. GMOs will enslave the world through the intellectual property rights that allows the biotech industry to patent their seeds, debars farmers from sharing or saving seeds and forces them to buy seeds every planting season. It seeks to overturn age long sustainable practices.” Nnimmo Bassey Nigerian environmentalist, Chair of Friends of the Earth International 2008-2012

So again I ask WHAT IS MONSANTO DOING IN NIGERIA?

gj22:


Lol. Since when did money become more important than human lives? People are dying daily and you you are bordered about oil theft? Nawa

Smh have you lost account of what happened when the doctors went on strike?
Without oil, there is no money to pay docs
Well for now
Without oil there is nothing to keep our nation running.
Or should we keep mute and live by the orders of the oil importers?
The greater danger here is those who do as they please at the detriment of the majority.

How is this political?
What is the "diddy" effect in the Nigerian political scheme?

This is not surprising, but one thing is surprising.
The surprising thing is how the region has been churning out leaders with low leadership skills, inability of them to think and make things right!
No one expected that the standards of the South West could drop sharply, but it did all because of "Bad Leadership".

Federal allocation has made them all lazy, they don't wanna work and they don't wanna think.
We now have a set of pot bellied morons with stupid reading glasses to represent us but in the real sense of it the gluttons represent themselves and families.

Why not go back to Cocoa production?
With the amount of land we have here in the South West, we can generate so much income from selling cocoa locally and exporting it.

Imagine a region with the highest concentration of humans, think about what we can do if that population is channelled into grandscale labour?

But no, its just unfortunate.
I wish I can have a one on one chat with Governor Ajimobi, Aregbesola, Fayose.

knowledgeable:




ill Informed about Adekunle(Scorpion), Obasanjo, lagoon and etc.

You see ask yourself what led to those instances.
You will know there was an even that triggered each of them.
You know, there is for every action an equal and opposite reaction.
You don't expect to be wrong and adamant expecting others to come closer to you, NO!

Don't twist history
Its bitter to say it now because this current dispensation doesn't suit you well enough, but be truthful in your words regarding history.
But when you have all you need in life you will gladly admit all your faults.

People, tribes, clans, nations survive with genuine and strong history.
A feeble history doesn't hold much ends.

lol
sorry op
Some people are just, you know.......
I guess you know what I mean.

It is good we read our history.
It is good for my people in the east to see that they have been ill informed.

gj22:
Talk of resources being underutilised. This is something that should be used to fight boko haram not oil thieves.

Right now oil sale is not fetching us as much money as it used to before.
Now we have crises in 2 sections of the country.
1) Where the money is sucked out.
2) Where a war is going on.

"Scale of preference"
Did you study ecomonics at all?

vimi:
Why not use same drones for boko haram where we have faceless terrorist

A surveillance drone iis estimated at $10,000 Multiplied by 500 iis just too much for our fragile economy when there are other alternatives

come on
We can still afford $5million