This new-found government passion for livestock should be extended to the fisheries industry too

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) This sudden federal government passion for livestock production has caught most of us by surprise. For decades, the Nigerian government has shown no interest whatsoever in the expanding cattle numbers, opening ranches, locating feed companies or manufacturing high nutrition grasses but alas, out of the blue, we have been told about this Ruga policy aimed at expanding livestock production. Not thought out, however, the proponents of Ruga, somehow forgot about the Land Use Act

(2) Personally, I am all for anything that will boost production, hence why I put together my Nigerian Animal Husbandry Bill 2019 designed to dramatically boost cattle and meat production. Mine is a state-based plan that will allow those interested governors to expand cattle output. While we are on the subject, can we please ask why this Ruga programme is only limited to cattle? Ideally, it should extend to goats, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish 

(3) I would specifically request that the government also introduce a Nigerian Fisheries Bill 2019 because aquaculture is a sector that has suffered terrible neglect too. Something desperately needs to be done to boost output in that industry immediately 

(4) According to the 2016 Nigeria Fisheries Statistics report, the country’s annual fish demand is estimated at 3.32m tonnes but domestic production is only 1.1 tonnes. This leaves a deficit of 2.2m tonnes, which are met through imports. Nigeria shamelessly imports about two thirds of her consumed fish 

(5) Despite having a coastline of 853km packed with numerous varieties of fish stocks, Nigeria is the fourth largest importer of fish in the world. It is not as if we have over-fished our stock. We simply have not tapped into this resource and the government appears unwilling to even visit the problem 

(6) In the first six months of 2018 for instance, Russia exported N3.04bn ($8.4m) worth of mackerel to Nigeria. Figures for other exporters during this period are the Faroe Islands N2.77bn ($7.6m) Iceland N1.76bn ($4.8m), Ireland N1.76bn ($4.8m), Netherlands N1.31bn ($3.6m) and Mauritania N1.1bn ($3m). In the first sic months of the year Nigeria spent $33.2m on exports. If we assume that imports are evenly split during each half of the year, this gives us an annual bill of $66.4m

(7) In Lagos State, the ongoing dredging of the shoreline as the city of Lagos and Badagry expand has driven many fish away. In the Niger Delta, we know how oil pollution has ruined the fishing industry there. If we are really serious about diversifying our economy as Ruga tends to suggest, fishing is certainly an area we should be focusing on 

(8) Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states are all coastal. Our fisheries bill should provide protected areas within their shores where dredging, oil prospecting and any other activity that will harm marine wildlife are banned 

(9) Fishermen should be granted interest-free loans to purchase vessels and nets and processing companies likewise to enable them open refrigeration facilities and processing plants. We should aim to produce 5m tonnes of fish by 2025, so we not only meet domestic demand but also produce a surplus for export 

(10) Do you know that Vietnam produces about 7m tonnes of fish a year which generates about $6bn for the sector. In addition, the industry employs 5m people directly and a further 3m people indirectly. I believe these are realistic targets we can set ourselves over the next 10 years