Diversification: NASS seeks stronger revenue from Maritime, increased funding for NIOMR on blue economy

The National Assembly has said that it is working on boosting the funding of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) towards improving the profile of the diversification of the economy.

This, according to NASS, is important as the Agency would play an integral role for the government in developing the concept of the blue economy, so as to generate more revenue for the Country from the maritime sector.

Members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Research Institutions, made the disclosure during a working oversight duties to the research institute in Lagos.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Munir Babba Dangundi, said the committee members were pleased with the level of infrastructural development NIOMR has put in place within the shortest period of time against the paucity of funds which has bewildered the agency in the last 40 years.

He said based on the budgetary submission proposed by the agency, it was imperative for the house committee to visit and verify their facilities, assess what they have done, and to see the areas of interventions from the National Assembly in terms of proper funding.

Babba Danagundi mentioned that under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, the agency has improved a lot with the little resources they were getting from the government.

He however urged the management of the Agency to improve efforts in the area of research as well as to collaborate with her sister agencies, like the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and others, so as to improve on the economy of the country.

“In 2011/2012, I came here to see the facilities of the fishery college and NIOMR, and that time where we are standing right now is not somewhere you can come near, and you can see the level of infrastructural improvement in the college which is very commendable, and what we are standing on here (the Jetty) which has been rescusitated.

“In the last 40 years, there was no funding for them to carry out the repair. But with what we have seen today, we’re happy to report that there is considerable improvement in their infrastructure facilities to research on, and with the little funding they’re getting from government, they have done a lot and the members are satisfied and we will continue to engage them to do more in the area of research, and also to ensure that they collaborate with their sister agencies, like the Nigerian Navy, NIMASA and the rest so that we can improve on the economy of this country not only on oil, but on the coastline which is abundant in our domain.

“And as members of the national assembly, we’re trying to understand the mandate of all our agencies especially this one that has to do with research and see how we can help them in terms of funding,” he said.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, Professor Garba Sharubutu said NIOMR was going to be empowered to conduct research to know the level of resources of the blue economy.

He said the agency should not restrict themselves to fishery alone, as they were going to study the varieties of fishing products in the ocean and the population of the fish the country has, in a bid to develop them all, among other marine products.

His words, “For quite some time, the research institute has been underfunded and the performance in terms of research has not been very serious. But with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, there’s need to focus on agriculture for the purpose of diversification of the Nigerian economy.

“But diversification does not only affect the oil industry alone; even in agriculture there seem to have been over concentration on crop production and if we are really determined to diversify, we should be looking at other areas of agricultural importance.

“And that’s the more reason why within the sector we’ve been looking at the livestock sub sector where we have the agricultural livestock transformation programme and now we are concentrating on the fish and marine products, and we have institutions that are responsible for this.

“For the fresh water fishery and marine, NIOMR is the institute that has been given the mandate to develop the marine resources and in other to do that, they need a lot of facilities and this facility is what the government has provided.”

In addition to seeking funding from the National Assembly committee on Agriculture, Sharubutu said the institute was also looking inward to generate revenue themselves, explaining that the Council has given all agencies under it a target to meet in order to be self sustaining.

According to him, a part of the agenda was the usefulness of the jetty which is expected to bring in revenue when put to use.

House member, representing Ibeju Lekki constituency, who is also part of the committee, Prince Bayo Balogun said the agency should ensure that their research must relate and be of benefit to the community within their area.

He said that once there was any fishing technological breakthrough by the agency, people in the area must be seen using the technology because their research is for the people, and not meant for the archives.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), Doctor Sule Abiodun said the commendation by the committee shows that the agency is keeping to its mandate, which was development of the blue economy in support of the government’s agricultural policy.

He, however, urged the committee members to boost support for the institute, so as to improve the diversification of the Country’s economy.