Today, fish farming has become one of the fastest-growing farming businesses, turning Nigeria into the second biggest aquaculture producer in Africa. Also, Nigeria is the leading country in the production of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and African bonytongue (Heterotis niloticus). The great quantity of land, inland water surface, and coastland, which are suitable for fish farming, have placed Nigeria at a very advantaged position to develop aquaculture further. Here, the development of brackish and marine aquaculture represents a promising field for future expansion. An adaptation of aquaculture development has to reduce the impact of climate change as outlined. Furthermore, disease management has to be urgently improved. Among others, the availability of commercial feed pellets is a bottleneck that has to be overcome. Unfortunately, Nigeria is far from self-sufficiency in its fish supply, with a deficit of about 2.5 million tons being imported, but national initiatives envision an expansion in the future to increase the supply of the population with high-quality protein and the prevention of malnutrition. This study identifies challenges and opportunities of the aquaculture subsector and tries to give some recommendations for future development, highlighting potential governmental interventions and support.

Food security is threatened by the global increase of human population, climate change, inequality of wealth distribution, the state of natural resources, peace and sustainability, among others. Aquaculture has become an important part of the food supply, hence contributing to food security. Sustainable fish production, which represents an important affordable protein supply, should therefore involve feed formulation and production techniques that are not dependent on fish meal as the protein source. It is on this basis that bioeconomy becomes very important to promote the resourceful use of biomass for feed, food, biomaterials, and bioenergy. This study presents housefly maggot meal as an efficient alternative protein source to fishmeal and a valuable bioresource. Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (male and female) were fed maggot meal supplemented diets for 24 weeks and we assessed their growth and gonadal development. The findings of this study revealed that maggot-meal-enhanced diets promoted growth and faster gonadal development in fish. Maggot meal represents a quality alternative protein source to fish meal and an excellent bioresource, which can help us attain sustainable aquaculture production.