The Federal Government has been called upon to give more attention to the fishery sector for it to be able to expand and contribute meaningfully to the development of the economy.
The Chairman, Abuja fisher farmers and market union cooperative, Kado fish market and the national treasurer Nigeria union of fishermen and civil dealers, Alhaji Abdullahi Bakodole, stated this at the recent Agricfest organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, saying focus seems to be on other chain values than the fish sector.
Abdullahi, who said the association has over 11 million members called on the government to restructure the fishery department in such a way that it would improve the economic potential of the sector
“We want the president to give more attention to the fish sector, the sector needs a lot of support from the government. For instance, more of us selling in the FCT have to travel out to places like Ibadan, Ijebu Ode, Ogun and so on to buy fish when if properly empowered we can farm it here in commercial quantity.
“Our national body has written to the president in order to seek audience with him on the challenges confronting the sector, but we have not gotten any response from him, maybe our letter never got to him. He did not attend our workshop; he has never visited any of our markets to see for himself,” he said.
He said further that if properly assisted, a bigger fish farm can be established here in the FCT, so there will be no need to travel all the way to Ibadan to buy the same thing we can produce here in Abuja.
“We have fish farms in Abuja in Bwari Area Council, but it cannot meet the demand here that is why we had to traveled across the country just to meet up the supply. It is from Abuja that we supply the North central and places like Kano, Plateau state and others.
“The president is from the riverine area, so we refer to him as a fisherman, that is why he should take the fish industry more serious than other agricultural sectors.
“The minister of agriculture is trying his best but we are not satisfied with the way he is handling the sector, because if he had focused on this sector, the way he focused on others, things would have been better than it is now,” he said.