In keeping with the provisions of the Sea Fisheries Act Cap S4 Laws of the Federation 2004,the Federal Government on Thursday said it would henceforth slam a fine of $250 000 or the option of five years imprisonment to all those involved in illegal fish importation in the country.
The federal government informed that Task forces would as a result of the directive swing into action immediately,forthwith,visiting cold rooms to fish out those doing fishy business through smuggling of unhealthy frozen fish into the country.
Heineken Lokpobiri,the Minister of State for Agriculture while briefing newsmen on Thursday in Abuja decried the the ugly trend of smuggling fish into the country,which he said is currently undermining the efforts of the present administration in embarking on backward integration in the fish sector.
The smugglers he said are bringing in all sorts of frozen fish such as Tilapia,Red Pacus,River Bream,Pangassius,Horse Mackerel,Sardine,Croaker,
He explained that the federal government has put in place measures to arrest detain and prosecute offenders of this directive,as provided for under the Sea Fisheries Act Cap S4 Laws of the Federation 2004,adding that such persons are criminals and economic saboteuors and would be treated as such.
Meanwhile,health experts had raised concerns that smuggling of unhealthy frozen fish into the country is detrimental to the progress being made towards guaranteeing the good health and nutrition of Nigerians.
Some of the negative effects of smuggling fish into the country include: Unhealthy fish and fishery products circulation in the Nigeria market pose grave health risk to Nigerians;causes loss of revenue;while the local fish farmers become discouraged due to influx if cheap smuggled fish.
It would be noted that Nigeria has annual fish demand of 3.2 million metric tonnes of fish.It currently has 1.9 million metric tonnes deficit. This, analysts said provides government to opportunity to encourage Investment into fish farming to bridge the gap and address huge spending of forex on fish importation.
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