The House of Representatives, on Thursday, called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to find out the reasons why the African Regional Aquaculture Centre has been unable to render services to the country, in a bid to bring the centre back to life.
It also called on the ministry to find out the remote and immediate causes of the present decadency of centre.
To this extent, it mandated the Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions to ensure that the ARAC enjoys considerable allocation in the 2024 Budget estimates.
The resolutions were arrived at following the adoption of a motion titled, ‘Call to activate the African Regional Aquaculture Centre in Omuihuechi Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, sponsored by the lawmaker representing Emoba/Ikwere Federal Constituency, Rivers State, Boniface Emerengwa.
The House noted that on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu declared an emergency in the agricultural sector and food sufficiency in Nigeria.
The lawmaker, while leading the debate, said the House was aware that ARAC is a department of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research established in 1980 with assistance from the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme.
He noted that ARAC had a mandate of training senior and vocational aquaculture professionals to increase fish production through brackish water fish farming.
The House, he noted “is worried that the ARAC’s significant mandate has been neglected due to a lack of funds and previous administration’s abandonment, causing a shortage of trained personnel for the country’s fish sufficiency.
“The House is concerned that the last postgraduate programmes were discontinued in 2000 due to a lack of funds,” adding that “the reactivation of the postgraduate programmes and new courses are needed to meet current realities.”
So far, the lawmaker said that over 8,000 fish farmers and extension advisers have been trained, lamenting, however, that tens of thousands may be denied access due to the situation of the institution.
The House said it was worried that the “majority of the people in Rivers State and the South-South are predominately farmers and fishermen, eager to support the current Nigerian administration in ensuring food sufficiency if the centre has the full operational capacity,” but they are likely to miss out of the required knowledge to realise their dream.
