By Seun Ibiyemi
The Federal Government has inaugurated a technical committee to develop a practical roadmap for increasing fish production and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on fish imports.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, inaugurated the Technical Committee on Accelerating Fish Production in Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday, charging members to transform recommendations from a previous policy roundtable into concrete interventions.
Oyetola said the fisheries and aquaculture sector remained critical to Nigeria’s food security, employment and economic development, noting that fish provides animal protein to millions of Nigerians and supports livelihoods across production, processing, transportation and marketing.
He, however, said domestic fish production remained below national demand, creating pressure on household incomes, food security and foreign exchange.
Oyetola identified high production costs, particularly feed prices, inadequate access to quality fish seed and broodstock, weak fish-health and biosecurity systems, post-harvest losses and insufficient cold-chain infrastructure as major challenges facing the sector.
He also cited limited access to affordable financing, research and innovation gaps, weak data systems and inadequate standards, traceability and market development.
According to Oyetola, the transfer of fisheries and aquaculture functions to the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy provides a stronger institutional platform for addressing the challenges.
He recalled that the ministry, in collaboration with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), held a strategic roundtable on October 29, 2025, which produced recommendations for accelerating fish production.
The newly inaugurated committee, he said, would assess those recommendations and convert viable proposals into a prioritised implementation plan.
“Your assignment is not to develop another policy or establish a parallel programme,” Oyetola told the committee, urging members to assess the recommendations against existing national policies, laws, government programmes and institutional mandates.
He directed the committee to determine which recommendations should be adopted, refined, integrated into existing programmes, subjected to further study or discarded as unviable.
The committee is also expected to identify existing initiatives by government, private-sector operators and development partners to avoid duplication and maximise available resources.
Oyetola said the final report must contain an implementation roadmap detailing priority interventions, responsible institutions, timelines, estimated costs, funding sources, performance indicators and required approvals.
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The roadmap is also expected to identify opportunities for private-sector investment, public-private partnerships and development financing.
The minister urged members to ensure that their recommendations were evidence-based, financially sustainable and capable of delivering measurable improvements in fish production, job creation and food security.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry and committee chairman, Mrs Fatima Sugra Mahmood, pledged that members would thoroughly review the recommendations and translate them into practical interventions.
She said the committee would work with government agencies, researchers, industry stakeholders and development partners to address critical gaps and strengthen Nigeria’s fisheries and aquaculture value chain.
Prof Akintola Shehu Latunji of Lagos State University, who spoke on behalf of the committee members, thanked the minister for the initiative and pledged their commitment to accelerating fish production across the country.
The committee comprises representatives of government, academia, research institutions, professional bodies, fish farmers and development organisations, including the Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, NIPSS, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Fisheries Society of Nigeria, Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria, Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, Tilapia Development Association of Nigeria and WorldFish Nigeria.
The committee has eight weeks to submit its report.
