by Oke Efagene

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwunmi Adesina, has denied claims by the media that he authorized a ban on the importation of fish.

To this effect, a statement was  issued yesterday by his media aide, Oyeleye Olukayode, to clarify the circular issued by the  ministry on October 29, 2013.

The circular which stated that Bills of Lading must be dated on or before October 30, 2013, and the fish cargo landed not later than December 31, 2013, did not ban importation of fish.

According to a Leadership report: 

“It 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,” he explained.

Refuting it in its entirety, the minister described the report suggesting the ban on fish importation as misleading and orchestrated media misinformation.

Olukayode stated, “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 further said that the decline in Nigeria’s fisheries sub-sector had been obvious for many years. “Since 2005, the federal government of Nigeria 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 explained.

Noting that the trend must no longer be allowed to continue unchecked, he said, “In line with Section 15 of the Sea Fisheries Act, the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued new regulations to clean up the abuse in which Nigeria has long been treated as a dumping ground for unwholesome frozen fish. This is in addition to serious trade malpractices associated with frozen fish importation into the country.

“Some of these malpractices include over-invoicing, foreign exchange capital flight, and ghost import. The Honourable Minister had 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.”

The minister’s spokesman further noted that the federal government controls importation of fish into the country in order to appropriately regulate the industry, put in place a transparent process of granting appropriate fishing licences, ensure the judicious utilisation of foreign exchange earnings, and to reduce the huge import bill the country incurs as the largest in the African region.

The statement made available to LEADERSHIP FRIDAY further noted, “The fish importation bill for 2010 has been estimated to cost N125.38 billion. This is ridiculously too high for a 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 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, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has put in place strategies to locally increase fish production and systematically reduce fish import.  These include the establishment of the Aquaculture Value Chain and the Artisanal Fisheries Value Chain, under the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme.”