‘Poor monitoring of foreign investors, threatens fishing sector’

Secretary General Fishery Committee for West Central Gulf of Guinea Seraphim Dedi on Tuesday said that one of the major challenges faced by the Fisher sector in the region is lack of capacity to monitor the activities of foreign investors in the sector.

Dedi made the disclosure at the Annual Conference of the fishery committee held in Abuja,adding that most of the foreign investors carryout their fishing activities undermining the fishery governing body in the sector.

According to him,”There are many foreign investors that are fishing in the region but there activities are not being monitored and most of them carryout their activities undermining the fishery governing body in the region”.

He remarked that lack of capacity, fishing equipment, accurate statistics and insecurity has also been identified as challenges in the sector, stressing that the body will keep working to improve on the sector.

According to him, ” There is need for private investors to embrace this sector as it can lead to a stronger food security, better nutrition and a better economy for the countries in the region.

He said “We discover that if the private sector are involved in the fishing sector, the activities of the sector will improve and we will have a stronger food security, better nutrition and a better economy in the region”.

Bukar Hassan, permanent secretary,in the ministry of Agriculture and Rural development stressed that this is the right time for such a conference as the Buhari’s administration has successfully redirected the focus of Nigeria towards a path of sustainable development anchored on agriculture.

He further explained that efforts at harnessing the potential in fishery and aquaculture will give an added value to objectives of the wealth creation and nutrition security of the region.

 

‎HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA