Nigeria can now produce millions of litres of Bio ethanol per day, using it’s indegenous Micro organism.
The Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, NABDA Professor Abdullahi Mustapha Said this at the Ongoing Science, Technology and Innovation Expo in Abuja, Nigeria.
Professor Mustapha Said with the isolated thermo resistant yeast serving as a catalyst in producing Bio ethanol, Nigeria can now save the capital flight use in importing hundreds of million litres of Ethanol yearly.
He said, “There is yeast that we have isolated, it is indigenous, we don’t have to spend money to import this yeast, this yeast is thermo resistance, this yeast can be used for fermentation process to produce Bio ethanol, the substrate that is use for the production of Bio ethanol is cassava and sugar cane. And all those ones are found in Nigeria, so Nigeria can produce millions of litres per day with this yeast that we have produced”.
Professor Mustapha explained that other products developed by NABDA are starter yoghurt culture produced from indigenous microorganisms, bio-fertiliser that gives high yields and cleaner environment as well harmless and affordable insect repellent among others.
The Chairman NABDA Governing Board, Chief Clement Ebri said the idea of biotechnology products is a grass-roots movement that needs to be adopted as a norm.
“We need to have a trickle-down effect to ensure that this whole idea of biotechnology cut across the entire country. Is a grass-roots thing really because if everybody begins to do it from the bottom, before long it will become like the norm for our country and with that, growth will spread to all nooks and crannies of the country,” he said.
While tasting the meal produced from the Genetically Modified Organisms, GMO bean, the Country Coordinator of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology OFAB in Africa, Dr Rose Gidado advocated for the use of GMO products as safe and nutritional.
“The nutritional value is the same, the modification was made for insect resistance. So it was just the work for the farm so that the farmer can have a bountiful harvest. My message to Nigerians is that GM products are safe, highly regulated and scrutinised because a lot of testing goes through this before it is finally released for consumption,” Dr Gidado said.
While displaying products developed by the agency, meals prepared from the GM Bean were served to the audience.
Confidence Okwuchi
