The Nigerian economic development process has suffered from dearth of holistic approaches and misprioritization of programmes and projects, which lead to the realization of partial and unsustainable growth of other important sectors and sub sectors of the economy potentials for economic emancipation. The contributions of fisheries to the economic growth in terms of food security, employment, income and GDP have not been well recognized. The sector has been ignored for long prior to the recent NEPAD summit (which implementation is yet to take proper shape). Fisheries are still undeveloped and fisher folks are today amongst the poorest in Nigeria. The present paper reviews the Nigerian economic situation, the role of fisheries in the economy, issues, challenges and opportunities with the view to fostering growth of the sector and national economic development

Ayanda, J.O.

Tafida, A.A.

Aquatic Commons

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NigerianEconomy
Nigerian economy, traditionally based on agriculture and trade, changed profoundly in the
late 19th century (The Nigerian Embassy Moscow, 2002). Before the discovery of oil, agriculture
including fisheries was the mainstay of the economy contributing 65% of the GOP and 70% of the
country's total exports (Mapzones, 2000). The main thrust of government policy at that time was to
maximize the benefits of export -led development strategy. Export commodities were raw materials
from agriculture and minerals. Industrial sector was still infant, the government adopted import
substitution/ industrialization strategy which led to local production of various items. Remarkable
achievements were made through that measure, particularly in terms of job creation and local
production.
National economic growth can only be attained if all sectors and sub- sectors of the economy
are considered as integral part of the overall process. Over the years Nigerian economic
development process has suffered from dearth of holistic measures and misprioritization of
programmes. This has resulted in partial and unsustainable growth of the economy as a whole.
Fisheries, amongst other sectors, suffered the neglect most. This is in spite of its immense
potentials and contributions to the socio- economic well-being of million of Nigerians, particularly in
terms of food security, source of income and employment opportunities. However, fisheries have
continued to stagnate without any remarkable growth and transformation. About 50% offish supply
in the country is still by importation (FOF, 2002).
The poor performance of the sector can be attributed to lack of proper policy implementation
geared towards increased production and enhancement of economic gain. By implication this leads
to poor resource management and sustainability. It is glaring today that the major threat of fishers in
Nigeria remains the depletion of the resources and vulnerability. This is as a result to
overexploitation coupled with other ecological! environmental factors and seasonalities, among
others.
The challenge therefore remains how Nigeria can translate its fisheries potentials to a
positive economic development. It is against these background that the paper sets out to discuss
the issues, challenges and roles of inland fisheries in Nigerian economy.
Introduction
Abstract _
The Nigerian economic development process has suffered from dearth of holistic
approaches and misprioritization of programmes and projects, which lead to the realization of
partial and unsustainable growth of other important sectors and sub sectors of the economy with
potentials for economic emancipation. The contributions of fisheries to the economic growth in
terms of food security, employment, income and GOP have not been well recognized. The sector
has been ignored for long prior to the recent NEPAO summit (which implementation is yet to take
proper shape). Fisheries are still undeveloped and fisher folks are today amongst the poorest inthe
country. The present paper sets in to review the Nigerian economic situation, the role of fisheries in
the economy, issues, challenges and opportunities with the view to fostering growth of the sub-
sector and national economic development.
J. O. AYANDA AND A. A. TAFIDA
NATIONAL INSTUTUTE FOR FRESHWATER FISHERIES RESEARCH,
P. M. B. 6006 NEW BUSSA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA
INLAND FISHERIES IN NIGERIAN ECONOMY: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Figure 2: Contributicm a f fisheries ta GDP
(SourcesCEN, 1994)
Ya ars
1950 1956 1960 1968 1985 1986 1990 1991 1992
1.5
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0.5
Inthe same vein, FAO (1998) estimated the nominal catches of Nigerian inland waters as below
(F.g 1).
Nigeria is a country rich with natural and mineral resources which if properly harnessed can
enablethe country to develop economically. FOF report (2002) indicates the existence of 853 km
coastlineand 210,900 km2 Exclusive Economic lone (EEl), given the total area of the country's
entiremaritime waters including the EEl as 257, 200 km2 . Apart from being a maritime country,
abouttwo thirds of Nigeria lies in the watershed of the Niger River, which empties intoAtlantic atthe
NigerDelta, and its major tributaries: Bunue, Kaduna, Sokoto and Anambra (Stock, 2005). The
extensive network of rivers, inland waters, lakes, and lagoons is estimated at more than 15 million
hectares(Eyo, 2003). Earth Trends (2003) estimated about 260 freshwater fish species.
Inland fisheries production is mainly artisanal, aquaculture production is still quite small.
Freshwater aquaculture production is estimated for selected years: by Earth Trends (2003) as:
5,703metric tons (1987) and 17,663 metric tons (1997).
InlandWaters and Fisheries Resources
The discovery of oil in large quantities in the mid 60's adversely affected the agriculture
sector.The share of agriculture in the GOP which stood for at 48.23% in 1971 further declined to
21% by 1977. Agricultural exports as a percentage of total exports, which was 20.7% in 1971 fell to
5.71% in 1977 (Oseni, 2001). Thus, the economy became heavily dependent on oil. Oil revenues
representedalmost 90% of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and about 85% of total exports.
Thedevelopment created a structural problem to the economy with agricultural sector as the most
affected.This eventually led to rural- urban drift. From 1974 Nigeria started importing foods.
. Between 1978-1986, the country witnessed negative growth rates, which led to the
introduction of a comprehensive' reform package in 1986, the Structural Adjustment Program
(SAP).Objectively the programme was to diversify the productive base of the economy in order to
reducedependence on the oil sector. These reforms had no appresicable possible impact the
economy.From 1995-1999 series of other reforms took place. Yet, World Bank studies in 1996
classifiedNigeria as poor and characterized the economy as rural. The present Nigerian economic
policy is that the economy would be private sector driven, and public firms have been either
commercialized or privatized.
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Recommendations
In view of its immense contributions to poverty alleviation, food security and economic
emancipation, greater attention needs to be given to freshwater fisheries, via a more holistic
approach to water management and sustainability. Data on all aspects of fisheries need to be
collected, documented and be made available to all stakeholders for possible intervention and
interjection. The NEPADAbuja declaration needs to be implemented and pursued judiciously, with
close and participatory monitoring and evaluation. Infrastructure development needs to be
enhanced across fishing communities, in Nigeria. This is to facilitate the smooth running of the
production, processingand marketing activities inorderto enhance their economic gains.
Opportunities I Prospects of Inland Water Fisheries
The recent adoption oftheAbuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries andAquaculture with
focus on supporting capture fisheries, developing aquaculture, improving fish marketing chains,
increasing benefits from fish trade and supporting decision makers with information (World Fish
Centre, 2005), if properly and timely implemented, would go a long way in enhancing fisheries
production in Nigeria.
Challenges
Inland fisheries particularly river fisheries are vulnerable to changes in flooding regime,
which leads to sharp variation in fish harvest at different seasons of the year and eventually leading
to shortfallof incomeand poverty amongst the fisher folks.
Lack of Government commitment and poor funding posed a major problem to the
development of fisheries particularly in the area of facilities, equipment and implementation of
fisheries lawsand regulations.
Water hyacinth and other invasive weeds such as Typha grass currently obstruct fishing
activities, degradewater quality and hamper normal economic activities in river-rine areas such as
Hadejia Nguru Gashuawetlands where the spreadof theweeds has been established.
Post- harvest technology in fisheries sub-sector is generally poor and grossly inadequate.
This leads to series of damage right from the shore, in addition to pests and diseases infestation,
which incidence continues to reduce the gains from fisheries in almost all stages in the marketing
chain.
Majority of the inland fishers are small scale, mostly without adequate capital to expand their
production to take advantage of scale of production and profitable packages of technology to
enhance their earnings.
Role of Fisheries in Nigerian Economy
In Africa, Asia, and Latin America the fisheries of inland lakes, rivers and other freshwater
ecosystems provide an important sources of food and income, and for many these are the principal
source of protein (Dugan, 2002). In Africa for instance, fish and fishery products have an annual
export value of US $2.7 billion (World FishCentre, 2005) .
The contribution of inland fisheries to Nigeria's economy over the years cannot be
overemphasized. This can be assessed by certain performance indicators at both micro and macro
levels, such as GOP, employment, balance of trade! payment, food supply and income.
According to Olayide et al. (1973) fish supply constitutes over 40% .of human protein intake in
Nigeria, and recent studies shows that fish contributes 36.6gm per day of net protein utilization in
Nigerianhomes.
In terms of employment, fisheries create jobs and serves as sources of income to many
families particularly in rural communities (Solarin, 1992).Ayeni (1993) estimated that about 5 million
Nigerians may be involved in the fisheries industry, including other supportive sectors such as
processing,marketing, transporting, gear! craft building, loading, etc.
In terms of GOP, though the contribution of fisheries compared to other sectors of the
economy is quite paltry, it has the potentials to contribute significantly to the GOP if prioritized. The
contributionoffisheries to GOPfor selected years isshown below.
::[:
World Fish Centre (2005). African Governments Unanimously Adopt Abuja Declaration on
Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture. World Fish Centre public release date 25 August.
Pp 15 24.
The Nigerian Embassy Moscow (2002). Nigeria: Economy. Navigator site Embassy Consular
Affairs Business Forum Nigeria Public Forum Links Pp 1- 8
Stock, R. (2005). Nigeria: Nigerian Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005 Pp 1 6,
Solarin, B. B. (1992). Aspects of the Fishing Industry: An Overview of Artisanal Reefs and Fish
Aggregating Devices for Increasing Fisheries Output and Viability in Nigeria. Proceedings
ofthe 10thAnnual Conference FISON 1992.
Oseni, T. (2003r The Nigerian Economic and Potentials for Growth and investment, Paper
presented to the Association of Nigerians in the Capital District (New York, 2003) Pp 2.
Olayide, S. 0, Olatunbosun, 0., Idusogie, E. O. and Abia-Gom YD. (1973). Aquaculture Analysis
of Food requirements, Supply and Demand in Nigeria 1968 1985. Federal Department of
Agriculture Lagos Pp 113.
Mapzones (2000). Nigerian Economy. Country's Profile on Net 8 pages.
FDF (2002). Anonymous. Fisheries Policy in Nigeria. Federal Department of Fisheries Abuja Pp 1
20.
Eyo,A. A. (2003). Food and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria. Fish Network a Quarterly Publication of
Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON). Vol. 10 NO1Sept. 2003 Pp 3.
FAO(1998). Fisheries Statistic: Capture Production FAO year book Vol. 86/ 1 Pp 102 107.
EarthTrends (2003) Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystem Nigeria. Earth Trends, Country
Profiles Pp 1 4.
Dugan, P.(2002). Managing Waterfor Fisheries andAquaculture. IWMI publications pp
49-56.
CBN (1994). Statistical Bulletin, Publication Central Bank of Nigeria Vol. 5 NO 1 June 1994 Pp 1
26.
Ayeni, J.S.O. (1993). The Challenge of Conservation and Development of Nigeria Aquatic
Resources (KeynoteAddress) Processing Resources Conservation CouncilAbuja. Pp 15.
References:
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Inland fisheries in Nigerian economy: issues and challenges

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