Business
…Says Fish Farm’ll Check N6trn Import
The Rivers State Government has said that the Buguma fish farm is aimed at ensuring food security while checking the N6trillion spent annually on fish import into the country.
To achieve set goals, the state government has assured that the Buguma fish farm project currently under construction would be privatised after six years of operation by Onida Investment Limited in partnership with the government.
Governor Chibuike Amaechi who said this during a visit to the farm by the Good Governance Tour Team,also said that government hopes to recoup the money expended on the project before privatisation.
The governor also said that the project would create thousands of employment opportunities for both indigenes and non-indigenes of the area.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Chindah said that the project would check the importation of fish into the country.
Mr Chindah who said that Nigeria spends N6trillion annually to import fish, said that it was to check the trend that Governor Amaechi decided to develop fish farms across the state, stressing that the project, which is the first of its kind, can compete with any fish farm anywhere in the world.
According to him, the Government decided to bring in Onida Investment Limited of Israel to implement and manage the project for six years in partnership with the government before it was handed over to private investors.
Also speaking, the managing Director of Onida Investment Limited, Mr Israel Kidron said that the Niger Delta was one of the most favourable regions of the world as far as fish production is concerned.
Mr Kidron said that the company had also brought the latest technology to bear in the construction of the project, contending that it was the first of its kind in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.