The Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology, NILEST, Zaria, Kaduna State, says Nigeria once had 84 leather industries with branches in Italy and Spain, but story is different today as the industry is not thriving.
Its director-general, Mohammed Yakubu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja, saying the institute will establish mini tanneries in all states of the country in order to revive the industry.
Mr Yakubu, who is also the chairman of the Implementation Committee of the National Leather Policy, said this was necessary in order to provide the right infrastructure and technology for proper processing of leather.
According to him, leather is a huge national resource with potential of generating foreign exchange and massive employment.
“Nigeria is not unknown in the area of leather products. We used to have 84 leather industries and some even have branches in Italy and Spain some four decades ago.
“The Nigerian leather industry had branches in Europe. We want that to come back.”
He said that the leather industry collapsed due to poor infrastructure, as such the institute and the policy implementation committee would continue to press the Federal Government to make concessions, especially in providing cheap power, to enable the industries to bounce back.
Before independence and even during the first and second World War, the hides and skin for the footwear of British soldiers was sourced from Nigeria.
”Also, during the trans-saharan trade, traders used to come to Sokoto and Kano to get hides and skin, take it to Morocco and process it, and call it Moroccan leather, but it is actually Sokoto red goat leather,” he said.
“It is not the issue of technology because NILEST is providing all the technical requirements for the Nigerian tanneries and Nigerian leather industry to make an impact in the world.
“We are not lacking that but poor infrastructure is what is hindering us, especially power which consumes over 50 per cent of our production cost,” Mr Yakubu said.
He said that for Nigeria to compete with China, Brazil or India in leather industries, there must be a cheap and regular supply.
Mr Yakubu said, “There must be some concessions. We must provide cheap power to our industries, particularly the leather industries, for them to be able to compete with their foreign counterparts.”
He also said that the establishment of the mini tanneries would reduce the consumption of hides and skin in the country, which was being done largely because the number of industries cannot mop up the excess products generated everyday.
Mr Yakubu added, “We are eating the hides and skin as ‘Kpomo’ because if we don’t eat it, the available industries cannot mop all the hides and skin produced in Nigeria.
“In Lagos State alone, they slaughter about 100,000 cows every day and there are only 48 industries that can buy and process the skin and convert it to leather.”
He, therefore, said by reducing the cost of production, more industries would spring up.
“The main problem is power. As far as I’m concerned, the issue of tax is secondary.
“What’s important is to employ our teeming youths and attract foreign exchange, therefore, whatever concession is given to the industries will never be a waste.
“From the point of view of the leather policy, we are asking the government to take a look at the power component for our processing industries in Nigeria, because with this problem, it is not going to be an easy task for the industries to come back to life.
That is why we are planning to establish mini tanneries all over Nigeria; our campaign to make people stop eating Kpomo has gone far and wide.
”We are aware that if people stop eating Kpomo, those people engaged in selling it will go out of business.
“So in the interim, we, the institute, are going to have mini tanneries all over Nigeria, so that we buy the hides and skin, process it into leather and export the leather,” the director-general said.
Mr Yakubu further explained that the mini tanneries would be processing between one to five tonnes of leather every week from each of the clusters, particularly the ones products could be made from.
“we will do so, and the ones we cannot, we sell to other users of leather in South East, South West, Jos and Kano,” he said.