The Federal Government has inaugurated a technical committee tasked with addressing Nigeria’s fish production deficit, cutting the country’s reliance on imports and tackling challenges across the aquaculture value chain.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, inaugurated the 17-member Technical Committee on Accelerating Fish Production in Nigeria at an event on Thursday in Abuja, tasking members with turning recommendations from an earlier strategic roundtable into concrete, measurable actions.
According to the minister, the committee was set up to go beyond mere policy recommendations and craft a coordinated implementation roadmap that can tackle the constraints holding back domestic fish production.
“Fish is an important source of animal protein for millions of Nigerians. The fisheries and aquaculture sector sustains livelihoods across production, processing, marketing, transportation and related services. However, domestic production remains substantially below national demand, with consequences for food security, household incomes and foreign-exchange resources,” he said.
Oyetola pointed to high production costs especially feed costs poor access to quality fish seed and broodstock, weak fish-health and biosecurity systems, post-harvest losses, and inadequate cold-chain and storage facilities as some of the sector’s biggest challenges.
He also cited limited access to affordable finance, gaps in research and innovation, weak data systems, and inadequate standards, traceability and market development as issues requiring urgent action.
The minister noted that “the transfer of fisheries and aquaculture functions to the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has provided a stronger institutional platform for addressing these challenges as part of Nigeria’s broader blue-economy development.”
He reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to boosting sustainable domestic fish production, strengthening the fisheries value chain, and gradually cutting the country’s dependence on fish imports.
Oyetola recalled that the ministry, working with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, had held a strategic roundtable on October 29, 2025, focused on accelerating fish production in Nigeria.
That roundtable, he said, produced recommendations aimed at tackling production and value-chain bottlenecks, with the newly inaugurated committee now expected to review the proposals and convert validated ones into a prioritised implementation roadmap.
“Your assignment is not to develop another policy or establish a parallel programme,” Oyetola told the committee.
He said the roundtable report must be weighed against the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy, relevant laws, existing government programmes and the statutory mandates of relevant institutions.
The committee was charged with examining each recommendation and deciding whether it should be adopted, refined, folded into existing frameworks, studied further, or discarded as unviable.
It is also expected to map out existing initiatives across the public, private and development sectors in order to build on proven strategies and avoid wasting scarce resources on duplication.
“Your final output should include a clear implementation roadmap and matrix setting out the priority interventions, responsible institutions, timelines, indicative costs, funding options, performance indicators and required approvals. It should also identify credible opportunities for private-sector investment, public-private partnerships, development finance and other sustainable funding arrangements,” he said.
Oyetola urged members drawn from government, academia, professional bodies, research institutions and industry to handle the assignment with urgency, objectivity and a strong focus on outcomes.
He said their recommendations needed to be realistic, evidence-based and financially sound, while producing tangible gains in fish production, job creation and food security.
The minister pledged the ministry’s institutional backing for the committee and expressed confidence that its work would chart a practical path toward growth in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
Speaking earlier, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary and committee chairman, Fatima Mahmood, said the committee would approach its assignment with a strong sense of responsibility.
She said the committee would carefully review the roundtable’s recommendations and convert them into practical interventions capable of producing measurable results.
Mahmood added that the committee would collaborate with relevant government institutions, researchers, industry stakeholders and development partners to identify priority actions, close existing gaps and craft a realistic implementation roadmap.
A committee member and Professor of Fisheries at Lagos State University, Akintola Latunji, said the committee would engage relevant stakeholders to fulfil its mandate and drive growth in fish production nationwide.
Other members of the committee include Mahmood; Director, Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Abuja, Omoragbon Wellington; Director, Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Lagos Office, Garba Usman; Director-General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Prof. Ayo Omotayo; Executive Director, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Prof. Sule Abiodun; Latunji; and Prof. Sadiku Suleiman Omeiza of the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
Also on the committee are Bayelsa State Commissioner for Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Faith Izibenua Zibs-Godwin; Technical Assistant to the Minister, Dr. Charles Okaga; President, Fisheries Society of Nigeria, Dr. Ebinimi Ansa; President, Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria, Onoja Sunday; President, Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, Mashi Gabriel Sani; President, Tilapia Development Association of Nigeria, Remi Ahmed; and Country Representative, WorldFish Nigeria, Dr. Charles Iyangbe.
The committee has been given eight weeks to submit its report.
In October 2025, the Federal Government had identified a shortfall of more than 2.2 million metric tonnes between Nigeria’s annual fish production and its estimated requirement of 3.6 million metric tonnes.
The Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies had subsequently agreed to develop a National Fish Production Acceleration Roadmap to guide investments and reforms in the fisheries and aquaculture subsector.
Oyetola had earlier disclosed that domestic production met only about 38.9 per cent of the country’s annual fish requirement, leaving Nigeria heavily reliant on imports.
The government had since flagged measures such as the development of a Fisheries Bill and National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy, automation of fisheries operations, and the establishment of a Blue Data Bank, along with initiatives to support youth and women in aquaculture.
