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Nigerian govt may ban fish importation by 2022 —Minister

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Why Bank of Agriculture is still in distress —Minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, on Wednesday in Abuja stated that Nigeria may stop importation of fish by 2022.

While receiving a delegation from the National Fish Association (NFAN) the minister noted, that that the move follows federal government’s effort to encourage local production.

Mr Nanono noted that it was high time Nigeria started looking at the way forward to tap into the huge potential in fisheries and aquaculture for local consumption and export.

He however declared that there were measures put in place by the government to make the plan come true.

In his word “This is an area that we can join hands to promote fish production. We have to seriously reduce importation of fish into the country. Last year, we issued about one million licenses. This year, I virtually cut it into half.

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“I hope next year we will further cut it so that in the next two years we may rely entirely on what we produce here.

“Since you are producers and probably processors it is important to take note of your development in the fish sector towards this”, he said.

Mr.Nanono stated further “In the next years, probably we will not allow importation of fish into the country. I know people are saying we can only rear catfish, tilapia and a few other species but most of the white fish they do not do well here.

“But I know for a fact that the consumption of catfish is very high in this country both the fresh one as well as the smoked one.

“In fact, I was made to understand that it now has export market. So, if you put your head together and work hard, the future is very bright for fish producers in this country,” he said.

The minister however assured the association of the government’s readiness to assist where necessary to move the industry forward.

The President of NFAN, Gabriel Ogunsanya, while commending the minister for his commitment to moving agriculture to the next level, however called for assistance in the area of the minister involving members of the association in training programmes of the ministry and other relevant agencies, a letter of introduction to CBN, NIRSAL, BOI, BOA for timely intervention to boost the fish industry production business in Nigeria, loans and credit facilities for the purpose of business expansion,a letter of introduction to the 36 state governments and the FCT, Abuja, reactivating dormant fishery terminals, fish markets, hatcheries and develop brood stock bank for identified fish species and privatise the for utilisation of NFAN members.”

He equally advice the minister to direct research institutes to embark on demand-driven researches to benefit the entire industry.

He also called for measures to be put in place to support commercial fish production from along the value chain for both local and export markets.

Mr Ogunsanya also urged the minister to involve the association in the policy formulations for the fish industry.

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