The President of the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association, Mrs Benedette Okonkwo, has said that the country was losing between $80m to $100m annually to the numerous challenges confronting the fishing sector.
Okonkwo, in a telephone chat with The PUNCH in Lagos recently, said the country formerly had about 250 trawlers vessels but had been reduced to about 150 vessels.
“About two decades ago, we had about 250 vessels operating in the country but today we are having about 150 vessels. You will see that there is a decline. The country is losing $80m to $100m per year.”
She lamented that the high cost of Automotive Gas Oil, otherwise called diesel, was frustrating fishing businesses in the country, adding that 75 per cent of their production cost depends on the cost of the product.
“The major problem we are having is AGO. The prices have gone up and no one is doing anything about it. We have a number of Nigerian regulators frustrating us. Our operation cost is 75 per cent based on AGO.”
“So, if you are buying AGO at N700 per litre and we have to bunk our vessel with N70m, only for fuel alone. We have not added other expenses. So, if our budget is N100m, where do we get it from? So, that is a big challenge.
“We do not have an operational terminal. We are tenants of the Nigerian Port Authority, which is another big challenge. We have been talking about these things for years and nothing has happened.”
According to Okonkwo, the government should ensure that the Export Expansion Grant is more transparent.
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