NABDA creates online portal on animal genetic resources

The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) says it has created an online portal on animal genetic resources to improve scientific findings in the country.

The Project Lead, Animal Genetic Resources at NABDA, who is also the Secretary, National Advisory Committee of Animal Genetic Resources in Nigeria, Dr Mustapha Popoola disclosed this in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, many scientists in the country were doing different things in different parts of the country which was not documented anywhere.

He said the decision to create the portal came at a stakeholders’ meeting where scientists insisted it was necessary to have an online portal where research results and findings could be submitted from anywhere in the country.

The portal will be managed by NABDA under the animal genetic resource project, and the web address would soon be made public.

“It is an encrypted portal with some level of security; there are things you can access as a contributor with particular write-ups or research works. However if you don’t have that, it will become difficult because we need to protect people’s intellectual property rights.

“We are going to be aggregating published work, ongoing researches, and funded projects nationwide that have to do with livestock. So it now left to anybody who wants to do anything in the country both internationally or locally to go through it and see clearly what you want to do.

“It gives the researcher the information about the status of animal genetic resources in the country, part of the icons in the portal has provision for a short profile of all the experts in the field nationwide,’’ he said.

Popoola added that professors from all universities, depending on their specialisations, could be contacted through the portal, adding that the portal was a national asset that would have linkages to official portal of key ministries including the ministry of science and technology, agriculture and other relevant ministries and agencies.

He said the portal was the first of its kind in the whole of Africa and would be extended to cover ECOWAS countries if it records huge success, adding that the portal would also facilitate both local and foreign direct investments because people would have good information on investment “that are verifiable and precise’’.

“It will give the world a clear picture of what Nigeria is doing in the area of genetic resources research and other research works which otherwise would not be known by the world,’’ he said.