Fishing industry symbolises how unproductive we are in Nigeria

Ayo Akinfe

 It is criminal laziness bordering on a crime against mother nature for a country with 853km of Atlantic coastline to be importing fish. I do not know of any other nation in the same position that does so.

Again, this is a another case of crude oil making us lazy. We believed we had enough money to import anything we wanted so we allowed virtually every other sector of our economy to collapse.

Nigeria currently has a deficit of 2.1m tonnes of fish annually as she consumes 3.2m tonnes and shamelessly only produces 1.1m tonnes. Our dismal output comes from a combination of aquaculture, artisanal and industrial fishing.

Apparently, we have some of the largest mackerel stocks in the world but alas, we have not deemed it fit to tap into this resource. Many of the counties we import fish from have the same coastal waters as us.

Among the countries that export mackerel to Nigeria include Russia, Faroe Island, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Mauritania. Sadly, this does not shame us.

In Nigeria, fish is an important part of the household diet, making up around 40% of the country’s protein intake. Our fish consumption is about 13.3 kg per person annually. Just imagine the potential this sector could offer to our economy if we developed it and became a major exporter across the African continent.

Sectors where we should be making a killing include tinned fish, fishmeal for livestock feed, fish oil and frozen fish. All our landlocked neighbours like Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, etc should be wholly dependent on Nigeria for their fish supplies.

If you want to see a country taking fisheries seriously look at Russia. They plan to double the revenue the sector generates by 2024, targeting an annual income of $8bn annually. Ask yourself how much help an extra $8bn would be to the Nigerian economy.

Have we even given one bit on consideration to manufacturing trawlers in Nigeria? This is where the coastal states like Lagos, Ondo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River need to stand up and be counted. Has any governor of these states ever approached any of say our evangelical pastorprueners for instance and asked them to invest their millions in a boatyard that manufactures fishing trawlers.

 Someone needs to draw up an industrial fishing plan that outlines fish rich coastal waters, includes plans to build processing plants and above all makes the construction of vessels a major objective. Just imagine how many Nigerians this kind of project would employ.