‘Illegal activities cause lower fisheries output, revenue’

Th e fi sheries output in Nigeria currently falls far short of demand for fi sh, according to the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri because of the illegal activities of unlicensed fi shing companies. ”Our fi sheries requirement in this country is over 3 million metric tons, but what we produce now is just about 1.1 million metric tons.

We still have a gap of about 2 million metric tons,” the minister disclosed on Th ursday during a meeting with the national committee on Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (HSOP) at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja. He lamented that the illegal activities of fi shing companies was partly responsible for this. “Our territorial waters are not policed to prevent illegal unregistered fi shing. Th e Chinese, Russian and others are coming to Nigerian territorial waters and freely fi shing,” he said.

“Part of the reports we got is that you hardly will see vessels that are arrested and brought to Nigeria on account of fi shing illegally without permit on our territorial waters.” He expressed worries that, “everyday, vessels come here, but everybody believes that, in Nigeria, you can bribe your way. So, they come with some dollars. Th ey bribe your offi cers who are on the high sea, and then they fi sh as much as they want and they go back.” Moreover, he said, the illegal fi shing also poses “a lot of danger to our own local fi shermen and women. We don’t have the capacity to police or provide security for them. It is the Nigerian Navy that should do that. But the Nigerian Navy has too many challenges and has not been able to police our very long coastal waterways.” Th e minister’s view was corroborated by the chairman of the visiting committee members, Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Shafi ’i, who said that “there are so many illegal activities cutting across all the agencies that are represented in the HSOP. In Shafi ’is words: Often, Th e Minister Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, has assured the federal government will prioritised the completion of the 18million cubic Water capacity Ile Ife dam for irrigation and 2 megawatts of power supply. Adamu said the dam is one of the 116 projects inherited by the federal ministry of Water Resources. Th e minister in a statement signed by the director, press at the ministry Margaret E. Umoh, last Friday disclosed that the project which was abandoned since 2008 for lack of funds. According to him, the project was selected for completion in line with the federal government’s committment to completing all abandoned water projects in the country. “Government is continuous, so in the Ministry of Water Resources, emphasis is on completing the abandoned projects instead of starting new ones. We prioritized the projects according to the socio-economic importance to the people and Ile Ife dam is one of such projects”, he said. Ile Ife dam was awarded in December, 2004 and work was suspended in August, 2008 due to paucity of funds and lean annual budgetary provisions. It was intended to solve the acute water shortage in Osun State. It is designed with about 18million cubic Water capacity for irrigation and 2 megawatts of power supply. Earlier, His Imperial Majesty, Ogunwusi Adeyeye Enitan, Ooni of Ife commended the Honourable Minister for his passion and professionalism in the discharge of his duties. He described him as a very passionate, focused driven and goal getter. He said the project is very critical to the lives of Ife community. “If this project is completed, it would provide potable water to a large population of Ife, boost hydropower generation and encourage all year round farming through irrigation”, he said. He added that as a traditional leader, he will use his position to advocate for youths participation in farming to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in diversifi cation from oil based economy to agriculture driven economy. Monday, August 21, 2017 37 you fi nd lack of cooperation even between sister agencies. Several times, you fi nd that people don’t collaborate, even where they are supposed to assist each other in carrying out their assignments.” He stressed that, “generally, there is lack of coordination of activities. Almost everybody is on his own,” prompting the federal government to set up a body “that would coordinate to produce document that everybody will be aware of, and involving all the agencies that have anything to do, either with arresting, or detaining or prosecuting persons that carry out illegal activities in our environment.” Th e committee on harmonised standard operating procedures, which he claimed was “an array representing several agencies,” was launched January 26, 2017, with the mandates “to seek for cooperation, collaboration and coordination of activities on arrest, detention and prosecution of persons and vessels in our maritime environment.” It is also to “carry out – as much as possible – this mandate of trying to reduce to the barest minimum the illegal activities, which only one agency may not be able to handle eff ectively.” Lokpobiri expressed delight in that “this Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures document that was brilliantly put together is something we believe was long overdue. From fi sheries resources alone, we should be able to earn billions of dollars in Nigeria. Right now, we spend perhaps close to a billion to import fi sh.” He observed that, “in Liberia, on internationally agreed rates, vessels in their territorial waters that are arrested and detained because they don’t have requisite permit, will pay a minimum of $250,000. Nigeria certainly needs a lot more dollars now that petro-dollars are drying up

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