The Federal Government says it wholesomely commits Nigeria to the implementation of the tenets of the Biological Weapons Convention and will not develop, produce, acquire, or retain biological weapons in line with the international community’s efforts to tackle the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) which is the key international treaty that addresses the threat of biological weapons,
prohibits effectively, the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxin weapons. It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
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Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, stated this at a stakeholders forum on the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention In Nigeria.
The event was organized by the National Authority on Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions (NAC&BWC) in the office of the SGF in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) in Abuja.
Senator Akume who was represented at the event by his Senior Technical Assistant to the SGF, Professor Bolaji Babatunde said that Nigeria, being a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention on 10 July 1972, is committed to abide by the Biological Weapons Convention which stipulates that no states parties should develop, produce, acquire or retain biological weapons.
In a statement by Segun Imohiosen, Director of Information and Public Relations, office of the SGF, Akume explained that in furtherance to its commitment to implement the dictates of the Convention, the Federal Government through NAC&BWC has set up an Inter-Ministerial Council (IMC), which comprised over 42 members drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Organised Private Sectors, and the Academia charged with the responsibility for providing requisite policy guidance and direction on issues relating to Biological Weapon Convention implementation through collaboration and cross-fertilization of ideas.
Speaking earlier, the Chief of the Biological Weapon Convention Implementation Support Unit in Geneva, Mr Daniel Feakes, expressed satisfaction with the commitment of the Federal Government to the comprehensive implementation of the Biological Weapon Convention which has helped in reducing the proliferation of small arms and other dangerous weapons that may pose threats to citizens.
In her goodwill message, the Director-General/CEO of the National Bio-safety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Agnes Yemisi Asagbra thanked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for his immense support to the Agency in the discharge of its statutory obligations, assuring its poise to ensure the bio-security of the nation.
There have been global concerns that Biological agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, and plague can pose a difficult public health challenge causing large numbers of deaths in a short amount of time.
