FG says Nigeria can comfortably ban fish imports by 2022

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, says the federal government can comfortably close its borders in respect to the importation of fish in the next two years.

Nanono said this when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) flagship programme, NAN Forum on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that the available and efficient fish ponds that can comfortably satisfy the fish needs of Nigerians were enough for the country.

“We are not banning it immediately, but I think we are putting them on notice; you know we have so many fishing facilities in this country, natural ones and those created by all the tiers of government.

“I know in Kano, Katsina states and some other states, there are so many fish ponds. If you move to the south-south there are quite a number of fish ponds there, same with the south-east.

“To be honest with you, we have no reason to even import fish. If you give Nigerians the chance, they will produce all the fish that we will consume.

“Really, we have the capacity to produce the fish that we can eat; last year about two million licenses were issued, this year we are only issuing about one million and next year we will cut it by half.

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“So, gradually in the next two years, we can comfortably close our borders in respect to importation of fish and we will survive, and we will eat locally produced fish,” the minister boasted.

Nanono said that Nigeria has the capacity to produce the fish that can feed the population in the country, assuring that there were lots of investments in the fishery industry as the major fish ponds were owned by individuals and the fishes were feeding the market.