Nigerians are wondering how fish that had expired even before leaving the countries of export find their way into Nigeria.
One would have thought that with the chains of government personnel, whose primary duty is to exercise oversight function on such imports, such incidents would be non-existent.
Over the years, the country has contended with activities of businessmen who place material gain higher and above the lives of fellow citizens. This could have been the reason why all manners of adulterated and fake products and edible materials are being imported into the country, without restraint.
The minister’s burden
Akinwunmi Adesina, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, is pained by the attempts of some individuals to make the country a dumping ground for unwholesome frozen fish.
While ordering the destruction of rotten frozen fish in a cold room in part of Lagos State recently, the obviously agitated minister warned: “I have directed we are going to take inventory of every single cold room in the country. What do they have in them? When did they bring it in? How much is there? And what’s the status of the fish in there?
“And everybody selling rotting fish or bad fish, the cold rooms will be sealed off, the whole fish will be confiscated, it will be burnt off and they will pay the price – the cost of actually destroying the fish will be borne by them. And of course, after doing this, we’ll blacklist them. They’re not going to bring any fish to this country.”
The minister feared that unsuspecting citizens could be harmed by consuming such rotten fish.
“People take that and just fry it, and they think they’re eating good fish. This is cancerous stuff. It’s a very serious crime.
“And this importer, bringing rotten fish like this to Nigeria, they don’t declare it to government. We have a situation where they declare that they have brought in 1.6 million metric tons of fish between 2010 and 2012. But in fact, the evidence from the customs shows that they brought in 16.3m metric tons,” Adesina said.
Although the minister has yet to declare a total ban on importation of frozen fish, he, however, warned that government would deal shrewdly with anyone found to be putting the lives of citizens in danger through such importations.
A recent statement issued by Olukayode Oyeleye, special assistant to the minister on media, refuting outright ban on frozen fish, however, said: “In line with Section 15 of the Sea Fisheries Act, the ministry has issued new regulations to clean up the abuse in which Nigeria has long been treated as a dumping ground for unwholesome frozen fish. This is in addition to serious trade malpractices associated with frozen fish importation into the country”.
Abbah Abdullah, national president, Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON), has said the huge amount that is been spent on fish importation leaves a hole in the country’s finances and creates jobs for foreigners when there is a serious unemployment crisis in the country.
Abdullah also lamented that the trend “is a big threat to food and nutritional security of Nigeria”, and must be tackled urgently through phased banning on fish importation.
“Nigerian fishers and fish farmers are hardworking and innovative; however, the huge importation is eroding the fruit of their efforts, thereby frustrating the determination shown by the tremendous increase in production in the last ten years, especially from aquaculture”.
The nation’s need for fish
Some industry players explained that certain dealers hide under the excuse of the high need of fish in the country to import “killer” frozen fish.
It is estimated that the national demand for fish is put at over 2.6 million metric tons with a wholesale value of more than $1.5 billion. This demand, according to experts, cannot be met by local production, which is estimated at about 700,000 metric tons; hence, Nigeria relies heavily on fish importation to bridge the wide gap.
The country is also rated as the largest fish consumer in Africa with a total consumption of over 1.2 million metric tons.
High forex demand for fish imports
Since 2005, the Federal Government is said to be concerned about the escalating foreign exchange demand for fish imports, in which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) noticed an unsustainable surge in the demand for foreign exchange for fish imports by various companies operating in Nigeria. This trend has continued unabated.
Looking inwards
The Agric minister recently explained that imports of large quantities of fish has been used to automatically force down fish prices in the local market, thereby making local producers of fish unable to market their fish.
However, as a step to assisting local farmers, the ministry is said to have commenced the process of registering all artisanal fishing crafts and boats in order to ensure that artisanal sector, which has over the years contributed 80 to 85 per cent of the total fish production in the country, are well organised and duly recognised.
Abdullah was quoted in a recent interview that “Fisheries subsector of the Nigerian economy, including aquaculture and capture fisheries has a very huge potential, which when properly harnessed will generate a lot of revenue for the government and create millions of jobs for Nigerians amon other benefits”. It is also said that if encouraged, it would promote consumption of “locally-producd” fish and reduce the incidence of importation of unwholesome fish that is dangerous to the health of citizens.
How to recognise rotten fish
Bulging or sunken eyes, discoloration, seeping out of oil are some of the signs of rancidity or rottenness of fish which buyers should watch out for. This has become very needful as there are now large quantities of such fish, especially frozen imported fish in th market. But more worrisome is that if unscrupulous food venors decide to buy rotten fish, wash, cook, season and dress them for the unsuspecting customers, these signs may not be obvious until the fish is being eaten. The seasoning may prevent the consumer from knowing.
Foluke Areola, acting director of fisheries, department of fisheries under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “Once you see fish with sunken or bulging eyes, discoloration of the fish or mutilation of the head, these are indications of unwholesomeness. By the time you have the oil in the fish coming out to the surface, there is a problem.”
Health implications
According to nutrition experts, toxins which a re contained in foods that are becoming rotten cannot be killed by the heat of cooking. Ebinimi Ansa, an aquaculture expert explained: “Rotten foods contain bacteria which secrete toxins. The bacteria may be killed during cooking, but not all toxins are destroyed by heat and that is the reason we still have very many cases of food poisoning.”
Areola said the high incidence of cancer has been linked directly to nutrition. She made the observation in Lagos, recently, when about 96 metric tons of rotten frozen fish which would have been sold to consumers were intercepted by the Federal Department of Fisheries. The rotten fish, imported from Russia is worth about N47.6 million. The fish which costs an average of about N500 per kilo were packaged in 4,783 cartons, each weighing 20kg and were intercepted at two cold room warehouses belonging to two companies – Premium Foods and Bexolac Foods operating as a group in two different parts of Lagos.
Failure of oversight function
Critics say the influx of unwholesome frozen fish into the country is a direct indictment on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) who exercises oversight function on such items. According to them, it is either there are saboteurs in the agency who willfully go contrary to the laid down rules or a clear case of incompetence.
“Every day we come back to the problem of either sub-standard or adulterated drugs, drinks and other edible products. During the Dora Akunyili regime at NAFDAC, he nearly lost her life fighting the criminals. Today, they have come back in full force. Who do we blame? The major part of the blame must be laid at the doorstep of the agency because it is still the agency responsible to certify okay, every item of import that has to do with food. It is either that there are saboteurs in their midst or a case of incompetence. But whatever is the case, government must rise to the occasion,” a Nutritionist, who asked not to be named, said.
The Nutritionist also alleged that there are some levels of collaboration between importers and the agency that should certify the goods.
“Sometimes, it happens that some unscrupulous elements within the agency collude with foreigners to bring in such unwholesome goods at the very detriment of their own people. Sometimes the importers compromise the customs and declare more than they import. So, they store the goods and they begin to go bad, yet they still continue to sell. These are money-mongers who place money above the lives of fellow human beings; in fact, they don’t even care who gets affected by their criminal activities. It is said that when you throw a stone in the market, it may hit your own relation. But it is unfortunate the level some Nigerians go in their quest to make money,” the expert said.
The Agric minister appeared to have corroborated the view above when he said: “People are bringing in more fish than they are actually declaring, between 2010 and 2012, we asked for how much fish importers were bringing in (annually), the records they gave was 1.9 million metric tons, I asked the customs to give us information on how much importers are bringing and they said 16.3 million metric tons. They bring in more than they are declaring and it takes a long time to sell off, because it is too much, yet they are bringing them in and so it goes rancid and they still go ahead and sell.”
Rasheed Olajide, the administrative manager at the company where frozen fish was recently intercepted by the fishery department under the ministry of agriculture, said the handling at the port contributes to the spoilage.
According to him, it is at Nigeria’s port that the fish starts to get rotten.
But a source at the port said: “When perishable food such as fish gets into the country; they are treated as priority in clearing. The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) takes samples of the fish for testing, but the fish is cleared even before the test result comes out. Before then, a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report would have been carried out and documents prepared”.
It was, however, yet to ascertain importers’ claim of poor handling of imported fish at the port.
Zebulon Agomuo and OLUYINKA ALAWODE
