The Nigerian federal government said it will stop fish imports, no longer issuing issuing fish importation quota to importers, All Africa reported.
The plan was announced by the country's minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Heineken Lokpobiri, at a meeting in Abuja.
The minister said that stopping the trade would help boost local production of fish and other aspects of agriculture in the country. He urged citizens to invest to boost fish production and create jobs in the sector.
The current deficit in fish in Nigeria is over two million metric tons, according to the minister.
Nigeria is using import restrictions to try and balance trade deficits caused by a dive in the value of OPEC crude oil -- a major export for the African nation, according to UK pelagic trader Apexpost's directors.
This has left the Nigerian central banks with a massive shortfall of foreign exchange, US dollars especially, and export revenues look set to remain suppressed for some time; hence, Apexpost feels Nigeria will continue to impose import restrictions in order to manage this.
Source: Undercurrentnews.com
