December 15, 2020

Nigeria to set up new aquaculture facility in Lagos

During the Lagos Seafood Festival in Nigeria, the Governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu - who was represented by Deputy Governor Dr. Obafemi Hamzat - announced that the Lagos Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (LACE) would be be set up to boost fish production in the Nigerian state. 

The development of  the facility - which is expected to have a 50 million fish capacity - would be done in partnership with a private investor.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the centre's hatchery will produce enough fish to supply 5,000 smallholder farms. It will also include a 24,000 tonnes feed mill and a 20,000 tonne capacity fish processing centre. He added that the annual demand for fish in Lagos was 374,000 tonnes, considerably below the state's current 155,000 tonnes of production.

"This supply deficit provides us with a valuable investment opportunity," he said.

The announcement was made at the ninth edition of the festival. Lagos' Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said that the objective was to "showcase the aquaculture and seafood potentials of Lagos State to the local and international markets, and to stimulate investment."

She said that fisheries and aquaculture were crucial to the creation of employment, provision of valuable animal protein.

With support, she said, the sector could contribute more export revenue than ₦25 billion (US$66 million) which was earned from the export of shrimp and smoked fish in 2019.

- The Fish Site