FG urged to increase investment in tannery to engage youths
Kano Leather Industry. Photo Credit: Mail on Sunday
Tannery
By Femi Ogunshola
Abuja, March 6, 2020 (NAN) The Federal Government has been urged to increase investment in tannery as a way of boosting the nation’s economy and help cushioned the effect of unemployment in the country.
Some stakeholders told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that such investment in tannery would help reduced the number of unemployment by engaging the youth productively.
Mr Samuel Afolabi, who specialises in footwear production, said Kano was one of the suppliers of leather to some of the most creative brands of shoes around the world including, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
He said it was unfortunate that not many Nigerians were aware of the country’s potentials in the area of hides and skins, that could give the country some leverage in its quest to boost the myriad of economic challenges bedeviling it.
According to him, from Kano to Lagos and Rivers, Nigeria has a huge deposit of leather and with government attention on the tannery industry, it will be good to engage a number of its youth productively in the sector.
Tannery is a place where animal hides and skins processed or tanned, while tanning is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather.
Mr Abdullahi Ibrahim, who deals in leather, said Kano remained the largest commercial hub for the leather industry, adding that the business remained one of the untapped ventures that scores of Nigerians
were not exposed to.
Ibrahim noted that it was disturbing that foreigners often take advantage of the country’s potentials in the leather industry by coming in their numbers to buy and eventually make something meaningful out of them.
He called on the Federal Government to reposition some of the tannery in the country and redirect its energy to investing in the sector in order to engage some unemployed youths.
This according to him, the Federal Government could do by partnering with states that had the potentials for producing leather in large quantities.
Malam Muhammed Hassim, a seasoned shoe maker, said the tanneries in Kano were usually beehive of activities as men work on hides and various skins for brands to be exported beyond the shore of Nigeria.
He said some of these traditional tanneries were Nigeria’s oldest and were also the biggest suppliers of local leather.
According to him, Kano leather industry is one of the suppliers for some of the most prolific brands around the world.
Hassim stated that most of these tanneries were the driving forces for profitable leather industry in the country, adding that such had kept thousands of people in gainful employment.
NAN reports that in May 2016, The Mail on Sunday, a UK newspaper, published an article titled: Ralph Lauren’s African Leather Supplier in Nigeria receive UK Foreign Aid.
The article read in part : “An African tannery supplying leather for Ralph Lauren shirts that sell for £2,000 in some of the world’s most exclusive boutiques has received funding from British taxpayers”. (NAN)
Designer Bag made with Nigerian Leather
Photo Credit: Onchek.com
ODF/BOLA/IFY
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Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Ifeyinwa Omowole