15112022

14 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022
How we are deploying
biotechnology for
national development
—NABDA DG, Prof
Mustapha
Professor Abdullahi Mustapha is an expert in the real sense of the
word. He is a renowned professor of chemistry and also understands the
role science and technology can play in the development of a nation. He
has been writing and researching on that until he was appointed as the
Director General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency,
NABDA, by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020. Since his
appointment, which he sees as an opportunity for him to contribute his
quota to national development, Prof. Mustapha has brought to bear
several biotechnology-based initiatives in order to solve Nigeria’s
challenges.
In this interview with Soni Daniel and Emman Elebeke, Prof. Mustapha
speaks on effort by the agency to address critical challenges facing the
country using biotechnology. Excerpts:
••Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha...deploying biotechnology in cow breeding
WITH the mandate given
to you as the director
general of the National
Biotechnology Development
Agency, what have you been
able to do to ensure that
biotechnology takes shape in
Nigeria?
As I came into office I came
with my own agenda and plans
on how to prosper and move
NABDA forward. First of all,
before you do anything in a
research institution, you have to
have some basic things, and
those basic things include water
and electricity.
Water is needed in laboratory;
light is needed in laboratories
for equipment running and for
all the experiment that are going
on. So that is the first priority
that I make sure that there is
light and water. Secondly, I also
reckoned that we need to have
training of staff and that is why I
keep on emphasizing on staff
welfare and training. Without a
trained staff you cannot achieve
what you want to achieve.
Legal
framework
This is a research institute and
knowledge is being renewed day
in day out and if this knowledge
is not being renewed it means
that we are just stagnant in one
place and that is why we have
sent large of number of people
for PhD studies and we are also
working hard to see that we bring
more knowledge into what we
are doing. Above all, as an
institution, we needed to have a
legal framework approved by the
National Assembly. And, that
was done within six months after
I started pursuing it and this is
something that I am really
happy about and it remains a
milestone to this agency.
This is memorable because
NABDA has been in existence for
over 20 years but there was no
law backing its existence until it
was done a few months after my
appointment. With the legal
framework, NABDA is now
backed by law as an institution
to conduct researches that will
foster economic development of
the nation and all these areas of
development are covered by
biotechnology.
What would you say is
Nigeria’s level of appreciation
of biotechnology at the
moment?
Well, to be honest with you, I
will say Nigerians have accepted
it very well in the sense that
before now, there were many
people who were opposed to the
idea applying biotechnology to
anything in the country. But
today, we don’t have many of
such people. It is good for the
country.
Opposition to biotechnology is
dying down because when we
were called for a public hearing
on a bill on biotechnology some
of the fiercest critics of the law
refused to show up and present
their criticism against the
technology during a public
hearing organized by the
National Assembly. Another
reason is that we have developed
crops that are going to be used
for the development of the
nation and people have accepted
them wholeheartedly and they
are now looking for this
technology to be applied in their
farms.
In which specific areas are
you deploying biotechnology in
Nigeria?
Biotechnology covers
everything but here we have
streamlined it into four major
categories. In the environment
area, we have focused on
achieving biotechnology
research towards bringing
cleaner energy, two, cleaning the
environment and even the
fingerprint of our crude oil. In
the area of agriculture, we are
working on fisheries, animal
biotechnology and crops
production. In the area of
fisheries we have a research for
producing Tilapia; we have
increased that and the target is
to bring to the table bigger size
Tilapia fish and all other fish but
we concentrate on the Tilapia for
now.
We are also producing
fingerlings and fish feeds also.
In the area of animal
biotechnology, we are working
to improve milk production.
Instead of what we are observing
now 1-3 litres maximum per day
per cow, we are improving it to
15-20 litres per cow and we have
started the breeding programme
and it is going to cover the whole
nation. We have started with
some few selected states and with
some few farms and we have
inseminated these cows. For this
year, we earmarked about 250
cows and we have inseminated
over 152 cows as at now and we
are expecting in the next nine
months to a
year we are
going to have
the first
generation of
t h e s e
crossbreed
animals that
can produce
more milk
and more
meat. We have
earmarked
about 250
cows for next
yielding variety that will
improve the textile industry and
make Nigeria self-sufficient in
that area of business as it was
before. We are collaborating
with the Cotton Farmers
Association in bringing the type
of cotton that is resistant to any
form of attack and to improve
the quality and quantity of the
produce and give farmers more
money. Last year the cotton
farmers association celebrated
6,000 hectares that they
collectively farmed.
In the area of industry also, we
are having researches that we
can produce microbes that can
fast track the development of the
production processes in industry
and we have identified some
m i c r o
organisms
f o r
Instead of what we are
observing now 1-3 litres
maximum per day per cow,
we are improving it to 15-
20 litres per cow and we
have started the breeding
programme and it is going
to cover the whole nation
example,
that use
starter
culture in
yoghurt
which we
depend on
o t h e r
countries
to feed out
industries.
Unfortunately
year and we
believe that with gradual work,
we will cover the entire country.
This research is a national
programme and this is what
other countries have taken time
to do to transform their livestock.
So we are collaborating with
other countries, some other
institutions to transform the
sector in Nigeria.
In the area of crop production,
we are working to see that we
have enough climate smart
crops, drought-resistant crops
and pest-resistant crops for
farmers across the country. We
have already brought in a
special type of cowpea that will
resist drought and pests and
bring prosperity to farmers in the
country. In the area of cotton, we
have collaborated with other
agencies to bring in high-
that starter
culture for yoghurt production
gulps millions of Naira every
year to import into the country
and also require special
temperature to keep it for use.
This is not sustainable and we
had to identify local micro
organism that can do the same
work here in Nigeria.
We have varieties now and they
can produce without that
cooling system and it can
produce faster in the country. We
are working for the production
of bio-ethanol which is a big
industry in the country because
we have to spend millions of
dollars to import bio-ethanol. In
the petroleum processes, we need
bio-ethanol, in the
pharmaceutical industry and in
some other aspects but we have
the technology for the
production of bio-ethanol using
cassava and sugar cane.
But now we are even partnering
with other people from other
countries. Recently we just talked
with people from Paraguay for
the improvement of livestock.
We also discussed with people
from China for this bio-ethanol
production and they are coming
to team up with us and what we
are going to use is the sweet
sorghum in the production of this
bio-ethanol of which we have in
abundance in the country. We
can produce it and then the biogas
can be used for the
production of animal feed. So we
have this combination where you
have your animal, you can feed
it with your bio-gas and then you
produce bio-ethanol that you can
use to power your generator and
then you sell the remaining. It is
a value chain and this is what
we are bringing.
We have the concept and we
will soon go into deploying it to
the country. In the area of
medical biotechnology, we have
already started the production
vaccines. The vaccine
technology is very important in
the country because we have
some peculiar diseases that we
need to provide the drugs and
give vaccines and that is what we
are working on and we have just
kick-started it. We wanted the
technology, it is not that
somebody will come and just
give us the drugs or to give us
the vaccines to start producing.
We wanted to have the
technology and that is what we
are aiming at.
Do you have the technology
now?
No, we are working on it.
Nobody can give you technology
just like that.
So what level have you
reached?
To be honest we have started.
This research can take you years
because it is something that has
to do with humans. What we are
trying to do is to have a
technology to be able to respond
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