Stakeholder urges FG to designate Apapa fishing terminal
The Managing Director, Atlantic
Shrimpers Ltd., Mr Kamlesh Kabra has implored the Federal
Government to officially designate Kirikiri terminal, Lagos, as
fishing terminal.
Kabra said in Lagos that the fishing industry operators would appreciate
it if the present administration could put an end to the issue of
fishing terminal in Lagos.
“The Kirikiri terminal, where the
fishing industry operators are using, had been a temporary base.
“We have been here for long, and yet,
it has not been officially designated as fishing terminal.
“This temporary arrangement has
placed us at the mercy of the port owners and concessionaires.
“We are always being threatened and
intimidated with either high rent or eviction order.
“The situation we find ourselves in
the area is not good for our businesses,” he said.
According to him, the fishing industry
is providing jobs for many Nigerians and earning foreign exchange
through the export of shrimps.
Kabra said that the fishing operators
had been on this issue for the past 18 years.
He said the operators were hoping that
the present government would address the issue finally; and allowed
the operators to use the place permanently as fishing terminal
without further disturbance.
The managing director said that the
situation had made it impossible for the operators to have permanent
structure in the place.
“We are not able to impact positively
on our immediate community, by carrying out some social
responsibility programmes,” he said.
Kabra said that worldwide, a terminal
was always designated for fishing activities, adding that such a step
would help the fishing companies to maintain and secure their fleet
of trawlers better.
He said that designating the place a
fishing terminal would also help stakeholders to build cold rooms,
thus making it easy to transfer fishes from the trawlers to the
cold-rooms.
Kabra said the fishing companies
maintain cold-rooms far from the terminal; and it had made transfer
of fishes to cold-rooms difficult.
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