The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has made an urgent appeal to government to complete the Anomabo Fisheries College and get it running to revitalise the fisheries sector.
Having selected Agriculture and Fisheries as a priority area, the Committee has entreated government to allocate adequate amount of oil revenue to complete the project to offer the necessary training and capacity building to those engaged in the trade.
The project, started between 2012 and 2013 to conduct research and train players in the fisheries sector, had received petroleum revenue every year but remained uncompleted after a decade, the Committee observed.
In an engagement with the media on the 2024 PIAC semi-annual report, Odeefour Amoakwa Boadu VIII, the Vice Chairman of PIAC, described the situation as worrying because it denied Ghana and Africa the enormous potential in fisheries.
“This will help them to have the capacity to maximise the benefit of our seas for fisheries in general, and so the earlier we have it on stream, the better for all of us.
“I will urge the Ministries Finance and Fisheries to ensure that the needed priority is given to the project to the benefit of Ghana and West Africa,” he assured.
Odeefour Boadu, who also presides over the Central Regional House of Chiefs, noted that he had received some assurances from the sector and hoped the college would start working as soon as possible.
“As recent as last week, I was talking to the Fisheries Minister and I was given the assurance that it will be given the needed priority and so I am hoping that it will be done,” he said.
PIAC reported that crude oil production for the first half of 2024, increased by 10.7 per cent as compared to a decline of 13.2 per cent in the same period in 2023 and attributed to the improvement primarily to the Jubilee South East (JSE) project.
The total petroleum receipts for the period increased by 55.6 per cent from US$540,456,124.27 in the first half of 2023 to 840,765,265.80 in the first half of 2024 mainly due to increased production for the period, the report added.
SOURCE: GHANA NEWS AGENCY