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July 17, 2007
UNAAB VC Restates Importance Of Biotechnology
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, has urged the National Assembly to pass the bio safety bills now before it to give Nigeria the necessary push in food security.
July 17th, 2007
Declaring open the 9th UNAAB Course in Practical Biotechnology at the Alabata campus of the university on Monday, the vice-chancellor also said Nigerian scientists must work hard to develop insect and virus resistant cowpea, maize, cassava, cotton in addition to developing home grown genetically modified crops for domestic consumption and foreign exchange.
Scientists from all over Nigeria are converging on the university campus for one week to discuss "Plant Transformation Techniques" as the theme of the yearly discourse.
Balogun’s views tally with that of the Director of the Biotechnology Center of the university, Sylvia Uzochukwu, who also tasked the Nigerian stakeholders, particularly the relevant government agencies at all levels "to pay more than just lip service to the biotechnological development in the country.
"Our summer courses in biotechnology constitute a call to Nigerian scientists to retool, so that our country is not left behind in the on-going biotechnology revolution.
"We are in the knowledge age, the biology century. If the authorities in charge of the entity call Nigeria do not begin to pay more than lip service to biotechnology development in the country, Nigeria will be poorer than the present poorest countries in Africa in 20 years time," Uzochukwu stated.
Posted by Publisher at July 17, 2007 02:38 PM
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