The Federal Government said it plans to end fish importation in the next two years, saying it has already ordered fish importers to consider farming and production locally.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, while speaking at the 35th Annual Conference of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, in Abuja on Monday, noted that the present administration is implementing programmes in the agriculture sector to diversify the economy.
Nanono, who was represented by the Director of Federal Department of Fisheries, Imeh Umoh, noted that more than 12 million Nigerians are actively engaged in primary fish production, adding that contribution of fisheries to the national Gross Domestic Products is about 4.5 percent.
He said, “Let me inform you that the vision of Mr President is to grow Nigeria’s agriculture sector to achieve a hunger-free nation, through agriculture that drives income growth, accelerate the achievement of food and nutritional security, generate employment and transform Nigeria into a leading player in the group of food and fish markets, and to create wealth for millions.
“It is in this regard that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, under this present administration, is pursuing a holistic approach to the development of the fisheries sub-sector through the diversification programme along the value chain process.
“In line with the theme of this conference, the ministry has developed various programmes to increase domestic food/fish production and the main target is the empowerment of the youth and other groups especially the women. All these programmes are tailored towards wealth and jobs creation, arrest and prevention of youth restiveness. Currently, the total demand for fish is 3.6 million tonnes annually while Nigerian is producing 1.1 million tonnes, leaving a deficit of about 2.5 million tonnes to be supplemented by importation.
“As part of the measures of the ministry to reduce this importation and generate employment, the government has directed all fish importers to go into backwards integration for local consumption and export to international market. In this regard, several companies have complied with the policy and the ministry is optimistic that in the next two years, Nigeria will have no business with importation of fish.”
The minister described fisheries as one of the value chains in the ministry, stressing that it is a the driving force for wealth and jobs creation, contribution to food and nutrition security, poverty reduction as well as creation of numerous investments for the teeming Nigerians, “especially during the economic recession which is occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Nanono also noted that the contributions of the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sector to the Nigerian economy and the ongoing economic recovery programme of the Fedreral Government are significant in terms of employment, income generation, poverty alleviation, foreign exchange earning and provision of raw materials.