FG moves to revive moribund tanneries says Kano, Kaduna, Aba tanneries to be upgraded to world-class standard.

[FMINigeria]

The Federal Government has commenced plans to revive moribund leather tanneries across the country.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga said the Government would carry out an audit of all moribund tanneries with a view to re-tooling and reviving viable ones.

He spoke while addressing stakeholders in the leather sub-sector in Abuja.

The Minister said, "Of all the 36 tanneries in the country, six of them account for the bulk of our export.  I have therefore, directed the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and the Industrial Training Fund, through the National Enterprise Development Programme, to audit all tanneries in Nigeria and work with the owners to re-tool and revive those that can be resuscitated."

"Also, we have identified clusters in six zones in Nigeria to be upgraded to world-class leather clusters over the next 18 months.  They include locations in Kano, Kaduna and Aba, among others.  The Kano Leather Cluster is already one of the most important in West Africa and sources lots of hides and skin from outside Nigeria to meet its demand."

Aganga noted that the Federal Government would provide the requisite infrastructure to support the growth and development of the leather clusters across the country, as part of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan.

He stated, "The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Small and Medium Enterprises are already working with the Kano State Government on the Kano Leather clusters.   We want to make the Kano clusters, which is located in our Free Trade Zone, one of the leading Leather clusters in the world.  We will provide the requisite infrastructure for the six identified clusters like the common facility centres. The CFC in Aba is already in place.  We will complete the one in Kano as well as other locations.

"NEDEP is working with a number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to formalise their operations. Nigeria is one of the largest exporters of finished leather products to West Africa. However, this is mostly through informal channels.  We must formalise this to allow the government better channel its incentives."

He stressed that the Federal Government was committed to providing an enabling business environment by reducing the cost of doing business in order to grow the sector and make it globally competitive.

The Minister said, "We have developed the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan through which we aim to increase the Nigerian manufacturing sector's revenue by US$20 billion over the next  five years. Under the NIRP, Leather and Leather Products fit within the strategic sectors under the Agro allied and Agro processing group. Our target is to double revenue from Tanneries and Leather-related manufacturing within the next 3 years.

"In line with the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President, I want to assure stakeholders in the leather sub-sector of the Federal Government's commitment to reducing their cost of doing business in order to make leather manufacturing both locally and globally competitive.  This is because the leather sub-sector is strategic to inclusive economic growth and development."

He added, "On the finished leather front, specifically in products like shoes, bags and areas like Aba and Onitsha, there are few issues that we are tackling immediately. First is the issue of local patronage.

"Within the NIRP Framework, we are pushing for adequate enforcement of existing public sector procurement policies for the government to buy made-in-Nigeria products as required by the Act."

Source: FG moves to revive moribund tanneries says Kano, Kaduna, Aba tanneries to be upgraded to world-class standard.
Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria