Nigeria has launched the National Leather and Leather Products Policy Implementation Plan, setting the stage for the achievement of the projected revenue of $1 billion for the sector by 2025.
Nigeria is one of the highest producers of leather and finished leather products in Africa and the new implementation plan of the industry could make it a game-changer for the country’s economy as it is expected to improve the country’s foreign exchange earnings, boosting growth, and providing employment for young Nigerians.
The Plan covers eight thematic areas, including intellectual property rights, governance, E-leather, environmental and social best practices, marketing, funding, critical infrastructure, and research and development, and which the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the launch noted, presents the government with ‘‘a real opportunity to address specific challenges and shortcomings of the leather sector with pragmatic strategies to permanently resolve these issues for optimal productivity.”
Osinbajo saw the plan as a clear line of sight to the country’s emergence as a major hub for the manufacture of leather goods with the refocusing of the leather sector to value addition from its previous focus on exporting semi-processed leather.
Under the plan which is all-encompassing, relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and the organized private sector are assigned specific responsibilities for its various objectives and strategies.
The plan will be implemented by the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST) which has established Nine Extension Centres across the six geo-political zones to train and develop young entrepreneurs in Nigeria as well as provide innovative research and development in the sector.
The Institute is also collaborating with the Military for research, development, design, and production of military footwear thus making the implementation plan refreshingly innovative as it addresses the malignant problem of great plans but poor delivery that appears to bedevil many policies of the government.
With these steps, the Vice president believes the next steps are clear and the stage is set for establishing the leather and leather products industry in Nigeria on a sure-footed and well thought out growth trajectory.
The Vice President commended the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, and his team for developing the Plan, as well as other relevant government agencies and international bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) who are partnering with the Federal Government in the implementation of the policy.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) had in a study projected that the Nigerian leather industry has the potential of not only increasing its earnings by 70 per cent but also generating over $1 billion by 2025.
The Vice President referencing the projection noted that “there is no question that properly organized, the leather and leather products industry could become one of the major items in Nigeria’s export basket.
‘The leather value chain is extensive. It includes animal husbandry, tanneries, finished leather products, and leather products marketing. The leather and leather products industry currently employs over 750,000 workers with about 500,000 workers in the finished leather goods sector. About 11 leather exporting companies have been active at the upstream end of the leather value chain.
Also, the export of leather has grown steadily, reaching a peak of $117 million in 2018 but fell in 2020 largely due to the pandemic, but to date, are in the order of $272m.
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