In line with the country's Agricultural Transformation Agenda, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is poised to promote leather production business, so as to make it a major job creation and foreign income generation venture in Nigeria. The co-ordinating Director, Livestock Value Chains, of the Ministry, Dr. Joseph Nyager disclosed this at a sensitization workshop organized for leather value chain field officers and other stakeholders, held at the Parkview Hotels, Wuse, Abuja.
The Director whose speech was delivered by his deputy, Dr. Ademola Madeson added that over 45 Million hides and skins of animals are processed annually by tanneries in Nigeria; adding that the contribution of leather to the Gross Domestic Products and relevance to agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors informed the establishment of a team of experts and officials of the Ministry to plan and develop strategies for transforming the sub-sector over the next four years.
In his presentation, the team leader of the leather value chain, Dr. Bello Yakasai said, leather is given more attention than other competing commodities because Nigerians, from farmers to exporters stand to make a lot of profit from the sector.
He added that the country can benefit maximally from it, due to the size of her population, improved technology in the production of world class leather, globalization of markets, increase in the middle class across the world, availability of abundant animal skins and numerous tanneries in the country and availability of readymade market in West Africa.
In his contribution, the chairman of the Leather and Allied Products Association of Nigeria, (LAPAN), Alhaji Mustapha Nabegu disclosed that his Association is working closely with the Ministry to ensure that sub-standard leather products do not enter into the market. He said the decision of the present administration to include LAPAN in the planning and execution of programmes that affect them is a welcome development; adding that no other body can best regulate its members to ensure standard.
The leather sector however, is not without some challenges. These, according to the team leader include: difficulties in accessing finance for investment and expansion as well as high interest rates, unsupportive policies, e.g. low tariff on imported finished leather goods and lack of access to modern technology due to high cost.
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Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria