Nigeria is at the center of a fierce debate over genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with fresh questions about food safety, big-money influence, and the future of the country’s farming.
What are GMOs?
GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are plants, animals, or microorganisms whose genetic materials has been deliberately altered using biotechnology. This process allows scientists to change and organism’s DNA in ways that do not occur naturally, often to introduce beneficial traits such as pest resistance, higher nutritional value, or faster growth.
Genetically modified organisms first appeared in the early 1970s when scientists learned to transfer genes from one organism to another inside a laboratory, creating the very first GMO. The world’s first GMO, which was a bacteria resistant to antibiotics, was created by Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen in 1973. Soon after, in 1974, a genetically modified mouse was created and then their research on a tobacco plant that will be resistant to antibiotics followed, which became successful in 1983.
In 1994, the Flavr Savr tomato became the first GMO food available for purchase, giving birth to an industry now estimated in the billions.
Since then, debate has grown over whether GMOs are fit for human consumption. According to Healthline, a leading health information website and media company based in San Francisco, major global health authorities like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, and National Academies of Science say GMOs on the market are safe to eat, no more risky than traditional crops. Supporters say that in a country facing population growth and malnutrition, GMOs are critical for raising food production and farmers’ incomes.
This pro-GMO stance has plenty of high-profile backers in Nigeria, including government and regulatory agencies, especially the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), which insist all approved GMOs meet international safety standards. They say biotechnology is part of a sustainable fix for food insecurity.
Public debate and influencer advocacy: Aproko Doctor and GMO promotion in Nigeria
But a storm is brewing online and in the media. A recent video by Aproko Doctor, a popular Nigerian medical influencer, has intensified the argument. Aproko Doctor has publicly defended GMOs, insisting they do not cause cancer and telling his large following that fears about health risks are over exaggerated.
However, Aproko Doctor with Bill Gate in a picture circulating on social media platforms on campaigns promoting GMOs, has brought both praise and criticism nationwide.
Aproko Doctor’s link to Bill Gates, whose charitable foundation is a global GMO proponent, has led to suspicions among critics who accuse him of pushing a one-sided message influenced by powerful foreign interests. Critics warn of potential threats to biodiversity and soil quality, as well as possible health risks like allergies and cancer, even if those links are disputed.
Controversy deepened after a report led by Premium Times, with lighthouse reports and other media partners surfaced that, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paid a PR firm over $400,000 to help promote pro-GMO messages in Nigeria. Funds also flowed to Nigeria’s biosafety agency and campaigns that enlisted doctors and journalists to tout GMO benefits, leading to fast-tracked approval of new crops like Bt cotton, insect-resistant maize, and genetically modified cowpea.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s National Biotechnology Development Agency partnered with pro-GMO groups tied to the Gates Foundation to train influential Nigerians to defend GMOs, causing fears that risky commercial interests were outweighing open public debate.
Critics demand national policies on food sovereignty and environmental protection
On the other side, many Nigerian experts, NGOs, and civil society groups have called for strict bans on GMOs and urged the repeal of biosafety laws permitting them. The opposition are not giving up in their request. They claimed that the sluggish response by lawmakers are worrisome and could wreak havoc in the agriculture sector if nothing is done swiftly. Their main worries are about unknown long-term health risks, irreversible environmental damage, and loss of food sovereignty. Nigerian opponents fear that patented GMO seeds put local farmers at the mercy of big corporations, undermining seed saving and exchange.
Segun Adebayo, the director of Center for African Policy, Research and Advocacy during a media sensitization program at the national assembly complex said;
“Why don’t we focus on reducing our post-harvest losses and have food sufficiency? Why are we going to GMO that is patented technology that we don’t know what is inside? Other countries are banning it. We have documents to show all the countries in the world that have banned it and why they banned it and everything is cool and calm in a normal country, something is wrong.”
They urge Nigeria to embrace organic agriculture and agroecological farming instead.
Prof. Qrissturberg Amua, the executive director of the Center for Food Safety and Agriculture research, during the media sensitization workshop said;
“We are calling on the nation, especially the legislature to strengthen support for organic standards and seed sovereignty and agroecological research. We are calling on all of us to ban harmful agrochemicals proven to damage human and environmental health. We so mandate a national roadmap for generative agriculture, aligning with local food culture and climate resilience, and our final is that sovereignty begins with our soil”
These critics also argue that GMOs do little to actually solve hunger. Instead, they warn, Nigeria’s food system could become more reliant on foreign multinationals, a trend some describe as a kind of “food colonialism.” There have been calls in Nigeria’s National Assembly for stricter review or outright bans on GMOs, with some opponents describing them as “bio-weapons” that could cause future health crises.
Nigeria’s path forward on GMOs remains deeply split
While powerful voices and agencies argue GMOs are crucial for the nation’s food security, an equally vocal opposition says the risks – to health, the environment, and food independence – cannot be ignored. For ordinary Nigerians, the debate is about more than technology – it’s about who controls the nation’s food and the legacy future generations will inherit.
