The federal government has denied reports in some sections of the media that it has authorised a blanket ban on fish importation even as it maintained that the country would not be allowed to become a dumping ground. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who made the government’s position known yesterday in Abuja, lamented the orchestrated media misinformation on the state of Nigerian fisheries sub-sector in recent times. Adesina insisted in a statement issued by his special assistant on media and strategy, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye that there was never a time he was authorized to ban fish importation into the country. “We hereby emphasise that the claim projecting a total ban on fish import is not true and did not originate from the minister who has emphasised that, at no time did he announce a total ban on the importation of frozen fish into the country. “A responsible minister will not stand idly and watch Nigeria’s fisheries sub-sector plunge down the drain while financing other nations’ economies through indiscriminate importation, when the home economy suffers further devastation. This warrants deliberate corrective measures”, he stated. Adesina explained that the Circular of October 29 which states that all Bills of Lading must be dated on or before October 30 and the fish cargo landed not later than December 31 did not ban fish importation. The minister added that circular was directed at having a clear-cut demarcation between frozen fish imported under the old regime and the new regulation coming into effect in January, 2014. “The decline in Nigeria’s fisheries sub-sector has become obvious for many years. Since 2005, the federal government had observed, with concern, the escalating foreign exchange demand for fish imports, in which the Central Bank of Nigeria noticed an unsustainable surge in the demand for foreign exchange for fish imports by various companies operating in Nigeria”, he stressed. This trend, Adesina lamented has continued unabated and vowed that the present administration would not allow it to continue unchecked. The statement further informed that in line with Section 15 of the Sea Fisheries Act, the minister has issued new regulations to clean up the abuse in which Nigeria has long been treated as a dumping ground for unwholesome frozen fish. It said this is in addition to serious trade malpractices like over-invoicing, foreign exchange capital flight, and ghost import associated with frozen fish importation into the country. The minister reiterated that frozen fish importation is not prohibited and that the new fish import policies are geared towards increasing local fish production in the country. According to him, the federal government controls of importation of fish into the country with a view to appropriately regulating the industry, putting in place a transparent process of granting appropriate fishing licences, ensuring the judicious utilisation of foreign exchange earnings and reducing the huge import bill the country incurs as the largest in African region. He described as ridiculous, the estimated N125.38 billion cost of fish importation for 2010 into “the country that is richly endowed with huge natural water resources of 263 billion cubic meters of waters, two of the largest rivers in Africa and a coastline of 850km”. The minister added that the country also, has huge fisheries resources that are culturable all year round. To bridge the gap between demand and supply under its agricultural transformation agenda, he said the ministry has put in place strategies to locally increase fish production and systematically reduce fish import. These, he listed to include the establishment of the aquaculture value chain and the artisanal fisheries value chain under the growth enhancement support, GES scheme.
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