The Aba shoe industry is important for creating jobs and growing the gross domestic product (GDP.
Such businesses are responsible for creating 59.647 million jobs in the Nigerian economy, contributing 50 percent to the GDP and 7.64 percent to export receipts, according to a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
Many Nigerians underestimate the potential of the Aba industry. One million pairs of shoes are produced by more than 80,000 leather makers in Aba each week. With 48 million pairs produced each year at an average price of N2,500 a pair, the industry is said to be worth up to N120 billion.
Traders from West African neighbours storm the industrialcity every week to buy different product designs, just as Southern African schools are beginning to place orders directly from the shoe makers. Canadians, Europeans and the Chinese are also in the party, placing orders themselves directly or through their Nigerian proxies, BusinessDay was told in Aba.
“We are already struggling to meet demands,” said Ken Anyanwu, secretary of the Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAN), who produced Nigerian armed forces shoes in 2016.
The business is going digital, with sales now online.
The Aba leather industry is made up of shoes, trunk boxes and belts. It provides employment for tens of thousands, with many specialising in different stages such as designing, patterning, cutting, skiving, stitching, peeling and finishing. It is made up of clusters such as Powerline, Imo Avenue, Bakassi, Aba North Shoe Plaza, Omemma Traders and Workers, ATE Bag, and Ochendo Industrial Market, comprising input supplers, among others.
However, the industry is in thriving in chaos as the majority of shoe makers in the industrial city are poorly structured and are not registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission. Exports are made informally, making tracking and planning difficult.
Their machines are crude and much of their work is still done by human labour. Some of their designs are not in tune with current trends.
“This is where the problem lies. We in Aba have no good machines,” Anyanwu of ALAIN said.
He said this is why the majority of Aba shoe makers are not meeting demands and are overworking themselves once orders are placed.
“It is a problem already for us because if a customer comes and we can’t meet demand, he will go elsewhere. Theindustry needs retooling,” he said.
Aba shoe makers import animal skins from China and many parts of Africa and Europe.
“What happens is that the tanneries in Kano and Kaduna process animal skins and sell them as leather in the globalmarket, earning foreign exchange,” said Chinatu Nwagbara, coordinator of Made-in-Aba Project, who produced shoes for Olusegun Obasanjo in 2016.
“So we go to China and other countries to buy. Sometimes, we buy our products and re-import,” he said.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate is estimated at 23.1 percent, according to NBS data, and analysts say Aba alone can take thousands more out of the streets.
“Provide the industry with support and you will see what happens in a couple of years to come,” Ike Ibeabuchi, a manufacturing sector analyst, said.
ODINAKA ANUDU
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