Experts have gathered in Sokoto to validate leather policy with a view to making Nigeria one of the leading exporter of leather finished products in the world.
Presenting the draft policy for validation, Mr. Bello Abba Yakasai said the country was exporting leather worth USD8000 million annually but that regrettably leathers finished products worth USD400 million were being imported into the country annually.
He said the policy was aimed at changing the trend by making Nigeria not only exporter of leather but one of the leading exporters of its finished products.
Yakasai stressed the need for a law that would reduce consumption of animal skins which he said was one of the challenges faced by the sector.
The Director General, Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology, Dr. Eucharia Oparah said that Nigeria has a comparative advantage in livestock production but that the leather industry had witnessed a decline in its performance due to absence of a specific policy.
This he said had contributed to the underdevelopment of the industry, despite its huge potentials as a foreign exchange earner and contributor to domestic jobs and wealth.
"It is therefore timely to draft the current leather and leather products policy which we are all here to validate in order to take into account these challenges as well as to tap into the existing opportunities in the sector," he said
In his remarks, the representative of Leather and Allied Products Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (LAPAN), Mustapha Nabegu said Leather policy was supposed to be changed with time because of the emerging new technologies.
He expressed joy that for the first time since 1958, Nigeria was trying to change leather policy in the country which he said would add significant value to the sector.
In his remarks, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said leather industry has the capacity to generate 700,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.
"Leather industry is therefore, the nation next goldmine and holds the key to industrial growth, economic diversification, jobs and wealth creation," he said.
Represented by Professor Ikechukwu Ukwumma, the minister said that NILEST had established Research and Development Centres across the geopolitical zones and would continue to conduct training and research in the field of leather products technology among others
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