Maureen Ihua-Maduenyi
Frozen fish and other seafood may soon
become scarce in markets across the country as a result of the Central
Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange restrictions for the importers of the
items.
Investigations by our correspondent
revealed that there had been no importation of the items since February
and over 80 per cent of cold rooms, especially in Lagos, had been shut,
while about 75 per cent of workers in the sector had been laid off.
It was also learnt that the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture had issued permits to importers to bring into
the country about 520, 000 metric tonnes of fish this year.
An importer, who spoke with our
correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the CBN listed fish and
other seafood among items not valid for forex from the official
interbank market, and requested that importers should raise funds from
alternative sources.
The source said the CBN was refusing to sign the ‘Form M’ that would enable the importation of the items.
“Since February, nobody has received
‘Form M’ from the CBN; so, automatically, the allocation is useless. The
industry is on the verge of collapse. Fish is not valid for forex and
the CBN has also refused to approve the ‘Form M’ after we have sourced
our funds from elsewhere,” the source said.
According to findings, almost every
frozen fish consumed in the country presently is smuggled through the
land borders, as most people, especially retailers, are currently
getting their supply from Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Information obtained from the Nigerian
Ports Authority’s daily shipping position indicated that between March
and April 5, 2016, of all the vessels coming into the country, only one
brought in frozen fish into the Lagos port complex; one in Port Harcourt
and another one to the Delta port complex.
A cold room owner in the Oshodi area of
Lagos, Mrs. Charity Iweala, told our correspondent that many operators
in the sector had lost their jobs, while more were expected to lose
theirs if the trend continued.
“The situation has worsened; cold rooms
are empty and people are losing their jobs because there is no more work
for them to do. I was one of the few people that got importation quota
but we can’t import; no bank has opened ‘Form M’ for any fish importer
for several months now,” she said.
According to Iweala, most of the fish imported into the country are sourced from the wild waters and cannot be bred locally.
It is estimated that the demand for fish
in the country is about 2.6 million metric tonnes with a per capita
consumption of 13.5kg, while the country currently has a total local
fish production estimated to be around 600,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The immediate past Minister for
Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, had at the
inauguration of the Special Growth Enhancement Support programme, said
the importation of fish was not a good business for the country given
its huge natural resources.
The President, Association of Indigenous
Seafood Operators, Mr. Lamina Rasheed, said the refusal of the CBN to
ease the process of importation would lead to a food crisis.
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