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

Mohammed Yakubu, NILEST’s director-general and chairman of the national leather policy implementation committee, said that more tanneries are essential to equip Nigeria with the right infrastructure and technology to properly 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 noted that the leather industry had collapsed due to poor infrastructure and emphasized that NILEST and the policy implementation committee would continue to urge the federal government to make concessions, especially in providing affordable power, to revitalize the industry.

Yakubu explained that it is not a lack of technology hindering the sector but rather poor infrastructure, with power accounting for over 50 percent of production costs. “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 provide affordable power to leather industries to enable them to compete with their foreign counterparts, emphasizing that “we must provide cheap power to our industries, particularly the leather industries.”

Yakubu also mentioned that establishing mini tanneries could help reduce the consumption of animal hides, known locally as ‘ponmo,’ which is widely eaten in Nigeria because existing industries cannot 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 noted that Lagos State alone slaughters approximately 100,000 cows daily, while only 48 industries are 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 called on the government to address the power component for processing industries, saying, “with this problem, it is not going to 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 Kpomo, 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, especially for products that can be manufactured from them.