It Will Reduce Ponmo Consumption — FG to Establish Leather Factories Across 36 States

The Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) has revealed plans to establish mini tanneries or factories in each state across the country to process hides and skins into leather.

Mohammed Yakubu, the director-general of NILEST and chairman of the national leather policy implementation committee, emphasized that the expansion of tanneries is crucial to providing Nigeria with the necessary infrastructure and technology to effectively process leather.

“Nigeria is not unknown in the area of leather products. We used to have 84 leather industries and some even have branches in Italy and Spain,” Yakubu said, adding, “The Nigerian leather industry had branches in Europe. We want that to come back.”

He highlighted that the leather industry had declined due to inadequate infrastructure and stressed that NILEST, along with the policy implementation committee, would continue to advocate for the federal government to provide concessions, particularly in the area of affordable power, to help revitalize the industry.

Yakubu clarified that the issue facing the sector is not a lack of technology, but rather inadequate infrastructure, with power costs accounting for over 50 percent of production expenses.

“For Nigeria to compete with China, Brazil, or India in leather industries, there must be a cheap and regular supply,” he said.

He urged the government to supply affordable power to leather industries, enabling them to compete with their international counterparts. He emphasized, “We must provide cheap power to our industries, particularly the leather industries.”

Yakubu also noted that setting up mini tanneries could help reduce the consumption of animal hides, locally known as ‘ponmo,’ which is widely eaten in Nigeria. He explained that this is due to existing industries’ inability to process the surplus hides and skins produced.

“We are eating the hides and skin as ponmo because if we don’t eat it, the available industries cannot mop all the hides and skin produced in Nigeria,” he said.

He pointed out that Lagos State alone slaughters around 100,000 cows daily, yet there are only 48 industries available to purchase and process these hides.

“The main problem is power. As far as I’m concerned, the issue of tax is secondary,” he explained. “What’s important is to employ our teeming youths and attract foreign exchange. Whatever concession is given to the industries will never be a waste.”

Yakubu urged the government to address the power issues facing processing industries, stating, “With this problem, it will not be an easy task for the industries to come back to life.”

Highlighting their campaign to discourage the consumption of ponmo, Yakubu stated, “We are aware that if people stop eating ponmo, those engaged in selling it will go out of business. So in the interim, we, the institute, are going to have mini tanneries all over Nigeria so that we buy the hides and skin, process it into leather, and export the leather.”

He explained that these mini tanneries would process between one to five tonnes of leather weekly, particularly for products that can be made from the processed leather.