The Leather and Allied Products Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (LAPAN) on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to develop the indigenous leather industry to reduce importation of finished products.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of LAPAN, Alhaji Bashir Danyaro, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the two-day Leather Industry Revival Conference which ended in Abuja.
The Leather and Allied Products Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (LAPAN) on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to develop the indigenous leather industry to reduce importation of finished products.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of LAPAN, Alhaji Bashir Danyaro, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the two-day Leather Industry Revival Conference which ended in Abuja.
Danyaro said that a lot would be achieved if the industry was fully developed and that more revenue would be generated from the exportation of finished leather products.
According to him,“the last (leather foreign exchange) figure we had in year 2009 was $680 million but in 2011, it went up to $3 billion, according to Central Bank’s figures.“In the nearest future, it is to see the Nigerian leather industry being grown to the level that Brazil has gone.
“Brazil now is exporting leather to 80 different countries, finished leather and finished goods.
“We are only exporting semi-finished and very little finished leather.
“But now we want a situation where our leather when we finish in Nigeria, should be produced into goods that we can export abroad.
“Then we are now adding value and creating more jobs and getting more money out of our products than sending our raw material from our country to finish them and return them to our country”, he stressed.
The chairman listed the major challenges confronting the sector as: inadequate infrastructure, the need for manpower development and adaptation of new technologies as well as policy gaps.
“There are policies that government must make sure it creates so that it can help the industry grow; one of them is the local content.
“Government should encourage buy-in to save jobs so that Nigerians will be encouraged to buy Nigerian goods, thereby creating job for Nigerians.’’
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