Fish importation will stop in 2020, the Federal Government has assured.
It said it would encourage local fish production to achieve this.The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, stated these while receiving a delegation from the National Fish Association of Nigeria (NFAN) led by its National President, Dr Gabriel Ogunsanya in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said, time had come for Nigeria to look inward to tap into the huge potential in fisheries and aquaculture for local consumption and export.
He noted that measures were already been put in place by government to actualise the plan.
“This is an area that I think we can join hands and promote. 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.“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.
The Minister added: “In the next years, probably we will not allow importation of fish into the country.
The minister assured the association of government’s readiness to assist where necessary to move the industry forward.
Ogunsanya, while commending the minister for his commitment to moving agriculture to the next level, called for assistance in some areas.
He urged the Minister to involve members of the association in training programmes of the ministry and other relevant agencies.
He stated that the association needs a letter of introduction to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Bank of Industry (BOI), and Bank of Agriculture (BOA) for timely intervention to boost the fish industry production business in Nigeria.