The Nigerian leather subsector has the potential of generating between 40 and 50 million skins per year and it will also generate between $600 million and $800 million dollars annually, Mohammed Yakubu, director-general of Nigerian Institute for Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) Zaria said.
He said before the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of trade on the global scene for leather was about $360billion and had now reached about $100billion.
Yakubu made the disclosure at the 5th National Conference of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists of Nigeria (SLTCN) in Zaria, on Friday, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.
However, NILEST has said it will collaborate with key stakeholders and leverage the National Leather and leather Products Policy Implementation Plan to create jobs and enhance the gross domestic product (GDP) in post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
The conference, organised by SLTCN has “Post COVID-19 realities: the way forward for the leather and leather products industry’’, as its theme.
Yakubu said that the institute, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, would ensure that hides and skins from Nigeria count and the products could only be exported as finished leather products.
He added that the export of finished leather products was to generate more employment for the youth and enhance the nation’s gross domestic product.
The director-general said it had become imperative for the government and other key players in the sector to provide favourable conditions for its sustained growth as the sector occupies a very strategic position in the development of the economy.
“In Nigeria, the level of trade in the sector reached about $960 million as of 2016 and by 2020 it dropped to $260million.
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“ When we had a meeting with stakeholders in the subsector in Kano, they reiterated that Nigeria can account for at least 10 percent of the total world trade in leather products.
“ For instance, the leather from Morocco was one of the best in the world; but unknown to many people, the leather was obtained from Sokoto.
“It was Sokoto Red Leather, which was exported to Morocco and from Morocco to other parts of the world; Nigeria’s leather was one of the most highly sought after in America, Italy, and Spain, among other countries,’’ he said.
It is, therefore, believed that the sector has the potential to increase Nigeria’s foreign earnings significantly hence the need to improve the leather value chain towards upgrading its position in regional and global trade, according to Yakubu.
The director-general, however, said that for the sector to overcome its current challenges collective efforts of key stakeholders were required through innovations that would drastically overcome the importation of finished leather products into the country.
He lamented the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector, stressing that the pandemic had forced many leather factories to shut down due to a halt in global supply.
“To overcome some of these challenges posed by the pandemic, participants were urged to leverage on locally made tanning materials, through indigenous research, thereby substituting imported chemicals for use in leather tanning processes,’’ Yakubu said.
In his address of welcome, Solomon Tanko, National President, SLTCN, appealed to the federal government for the full implementation of the National Leather and leather Products Policy Implementation Plan.
The society also appealed to the NILEST and other relevant stakeholders to include states and local governments towards ensuring that benefits of policy cascaded to the grassroots.
