FG vows to jail fish smugglers --Lokpobiri

Senator Heineken Lokpobiri

* Association of indigenous seafood task custom to step up board surveillance

                                 

The minister of state for agriculture Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has re-assured Nigerians of Federal Government’s readiness to slam fish smugglers with five years imprisonment or pay fine of $250,000 and in addition destroy the vessel and its products through further clampdown on cold rooms stocked with illegally imported frozen fish across the country. He disclosed this during a media briefing in Abuja.

He said that government would enforce the Sea Fisheries Act Cap S4 Laws of the Federation 2004, as it has become necessary for the government to address the sales of unhealthy frozen fish which are harmful to the health of Nigerians as he attributed the increasing cases of strange illnesses and organ failure in the country to the high consumption of unhealthy fish and fishery products as well as other frozen foods.

He disclosed that measures had been put in place to arrest, detain and prosecute defaulters as they have made the country to loss revenue, decrease in local fish production from aquaculture resulting to loss of jobs and fish discouragement of farmers due to the influx of cheap, illegally imported frozen fish into the country.
 He listed some of the illegally imported products as tilapia, red pacus, river bream, croaker and horse mackerel, stressing that the unpatriotic individuals behind the unwholesome act sabotage the efforts of the Federal Government despite the extant fish importation policy and prohibition of farmed fish importation through the land borders.

He noted that local supply had been increased from 800,000 to 1.1metric tones since the beginning of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, leaving a deficit of about 2.1mt to meet national demand of 3.2mt and stressing that the ministry would intensify more on its collaboration with the Nigerian Customs, Marine Police, Navy, Nigerian Agriculture Quarantine Service and Civil Defence Corps.

 Lokpobiri also revealed that the ministry was discussing with the Nigerian Navy to provide security for fishing activities on the Gulf of Guinea, as he further vowed that government will make life miserable for the smugglers  noting that concerted efforts were being made with stakeholders to upscale local production, while declaring that perpetrators and anyone found importing frozen fish without obtaining  license from the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through will face the full wrath of the law as it had setup task force to visit cold rooms the same way the Customs is doing on smuggled rice. “Even if you have beaten the security agencies to bring it in, we are going to fish you out; close down the cold room and make sure that you pay the $250,000,” he stated.

The National President, Association of Indigenous Seafood Stakeholders, Mr. Lamina Rasheed, appealed to government not to relent as smugglers had virtually sent them out of business. He explained that it was not possible for their members; after paying 14 per cent customs duty to compete with illegal importers who do not pay any duties; hence his call on government to remove fish from foreign exchange ban list, to enable licensed importers import fish. He said that getting FOREX at a cheaper rate would ensure reduction in the price of the produce and make it affordable.

Rasheed added that frozen fish imported by licensed operators were wallowing in various cold rooms across the country because smugglers had flooded the market with cheap but dangerous products which are detrimental to his and others businesses.

 He attributed the high cost of fish to the current exchange rate, adding that the frozen fish did not enjoy FOREX from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).