Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos, promised on Tuesday that his administration will continue to assist the healthcare sector, particularly with regard to the policies and programs created specifically to help the industry fight the threat of a future pandemic onslaught.
The governor announced that the state government had built a biobank facility to increase its capacity to contain and respond to any biological danger in the wake of public health events that had occurred over the previous ten years.
With the theme “Maximizing Benefits and Understanding Risks of Synthetic Biology and Other Emerging Biotechnologies in Africa,” Governor Sanwo-Olu provided this guarantee during the opening ceremony of the 9th African Conference on One Health and Biosecurity, which was hosted by Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium in collaboration with the Ministry of Health held at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, while giving the assurance, assured that the mantra of a healthy state is a wealthy state, which is one that will continue to guide the state’s plans and actions.
“As the Chief Security Officer of Lagos State, my responsibility is to always safeguard residents of the state from security threats, physical or biosecurity, ostensibly, in combating the menace of any pandemic attacks in the future,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu said his administration had in the last four and a half years been committed to strengthening and improving health security, pointing out that different initiatives put in place had been results-oriented through the proactive, comprehensive, and inclusive programs as encapsulated in the THEMES + AGENDA of the state, which promote the improvement of her environment and health.
Speaking further on the different initiatives taken by his administration, Governor Sanwo-Olu stated that, consequent to outbreaks of public health emergencies in the last decade, from Ebola in 2014 to the outbreak of Lassa Fever and the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had established a Biobank facility to deepen capacity capable of containing and responding to all biological threats, and had also procured one of the most efficient and sophisticated sequencing machines for the Biobank.
“We have also established the Lagos State Infectious Disease Research Institute to increase the state’s resilience to future pandemics and epidemics through research and training. This state-of-the-art project is situated on 5,296 square meters of land in the heart of Lagos,” he said.
According to him, the government has also conceptualized and developed an E-Health strategy, Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP), to connect the entire health ecosystems in the state, saying that this would enable connectivity and strengthening of the healthcare system and governance in the state to deliver better, faster, and smarter healthcare services.
He said the government launched a five-year climate action plan that promotes inter-ministerial collaboration that prioritizes action towards zero-carbon emissions, pointing out that this was to enhance communication and collaboration among multiple sectors and to achieve better public health outcomes, which has been the state’s overriding objective.
Besides, Governor Sanwo-Olu, who commended the conference, describing it as very apt, disclosed that another initiative introduced by the government in recognition of science and technology as the main driver of the biosecurity agenda is a strategic initiative tagged “Lagos State Medical, Industrial, and Innovation Zone” (LASMIIZO Project),” which will improve the state’s ability to manufacture medical products and consumables, as well as serve as an innovation pipeline.
In his remarks, Commissioner for Health Professor Akin Abayomi stated that the ninth African Conference on One Health and Biosecurity, organized by the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, aimed at raising awareness about biosafety and biosecurity trends among the people of Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa, and Africa as a whole.
The commissioner said that Lagos State had been driving the annual event and as a megacity on the continent of Africa, based on the fact that “the state recognizes that it is her responsibility not only to protect the citizens but to also protect them in isolation and that if other megacities around West Africa and Africa fall in prey to biological shocks, it will inevitably affect us also in Lagos.”
“So, Lagos is teaming up with the Get Consortium, which is a think tank based in Africa. Its function is to prepare Africans for biological shocks, and this collaboration has been very fruitful for the past nine years,” he said.
Abayomi also emphasized the dual nature of synthetic biology and other emerging biotechnologies, showcasing both its promising benefits for humanity and its potential for misuse, underscoring the need for heightened awareness and regulation.
“The thematic subject matter of this ninth African Conference on One Health and Biosecurity, ‘Maximizing Benefits and Understanding Risks of Synthetic Biology and Other Emerging Biotechnologies in Africa, is very interesting, especially at this critical time.
“Synthetic biology is a very complex field. It is a very dramatic and rapidly evolving scientific field where scientists now have the ability to change and alter the genetic code of any living organism and, in fact, to create new life forms.
“Now, synthetic biology has huge potential for the future of humanity. But like all great inventions, there is also the possibility of using it for great harm in a phenomenon called dual purpose and so today, we are bringing the awareness of what synthetic biology is to Lagos, to Nigeria, and to Africans and everybody around the world that is engaged in biosecurity and creating the opportunity for us as government to understand the subject matter but also to trigger our scientists and our community to be more aware of what the products of synthetic biology are, what the benefits could be and the threats synthetic biology can pose to us as African,” he said.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr. Ayodotun Bobadoye, Chief Operating Officer of the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET), stated that the conference would provide a platform to raise National, Regional, and Continental awareness, as well as opportunities to strengthen regulatory frameworks, ethics, social issues, and policy gaps that would adequately address the biosecurity concerns associated with synthetic biology and other emerging biotechnologies.
Bobadoye went on to say that the conference provides an opportunity for largely agrarian African countries to solve difficulties such as food security, environmental degradation, and health security.
“There is no denying the fact that the era of synthetic biology and modern biotechnologies is here with us. It’s obvious how synthetic biology is transforming medicine, agriculture, the environment, and the biomedical industry,” he said.
He did emphasize, however, that the advantages of these biotechnologies may be realized with strong legislation that governs their operations while safeguarding human, animal, and environmental health.