Check Harmful Chemicals On Seafood, Wike Tasks FG

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has urged relevant federal agencies in Nigeria to effectively monitor and ensure that harmful preservative chemicals were not allowed on seafood imported into the country.
Wike stated this at a two-day seminar organised by the Norwegian Seafood Council in Lagos, last Wednesday.
Represented by his Deputy, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, Wike stressed that it was necessary for stakeholders to fashion out workable policies that would guarantee healthy and safe protocols for all consumables imported into Nigeria.
Wike, who said Rivers State was strategic to sea food economic activities, noted that it was a coastal state with viable seaports.
The state chief executive enjoined the Norwegian authorities to take advantage of the most favourable business climate in the country, by investing in Rivers State, which according to him, was “Nigeria’s Investment Hub”.
The governor, who commended the initiative of the Norwegian Seafood Council for organising the seminar said, “There is a huge bilateral trade relationship between Nigeria and Norway in stockfish”.
Participants at the seminar include representatives from the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Trade and Investment, Finance, Budget and Economic Planning as well as National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Customs Service, Association of Stockfish Dealers, and the Lagos State Government.
Report says Nigeria provides the largest market for imported stockfish from Norway with a total of 8,900 tons of stockfish valued at over $38million as at 2020.