Union lauds FG for approving new leather policy

The National Union of Chemical Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-metallic Products Employees on Wednesday commended the Federal Government for approving a new national leather policy.
The President of NUCFRLANMPE, Babatunde Olatunji, who gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos said that the new policy would boost local production of leader.
NAN reports that the government on October 31, the Federal Government approved a new national leather policy, aimed at attracting more investments to the sector.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, had said that the new policy would ginger Nigeria to harness its leather resources for profit, instead of exporting raw leather.
According to Olatunji, government’s decision to curb the influx of foreign footwear and leather products is to promote leather production locally.
He said that with the new the policy and its implementation in view, the production of finished goods such as shoes and bags would get a boost.
He said: “I commend the government for the consideration given to the leather and footwear sector by approving the national leather policy and we shall also monitor its implementation.’’
The unionist said that over the years, the union had lost thousands of its members, due to closure of shoe companies, including the factory of the Nigeria Perfecta Shoes.
Olatunji cited other shoe factories that had shut down, including Bata Shoes Industries, Ajalyn Shoes Nigeria Ltd., Passat Shoes Industries Ltd., Silver Shoe Industries Ltd. and Lasura Shoe Industries Ltd.
The president said that the major concern of the government was to explore the non-oil sector of the economy in the quest for diversification of the economy.
He said that giving approval to the leather policy was a pointer to the fact that the government was living up to its promises.
Olatunji said that Nigeria could not continue to depend on oil because the pricing system was internationally determined, thereby making the economy subject to vagaries of the international oil market.
He said that the neglect of the leather sector over the years had impacted negatively on the country’s Gross Domestic Product because the income from the shoe and leather sector had dropped drastically.
He said: “Available statistics show that Nigeria is the second in Africa and eighth world largest exporter of animal hides and skin without adding value to make it a final product.
“The foreign importation of leather shoes and other leather materials have resulted into low capacity utilisation of the local leather industry resulting to closure and or relocation to other countries.’’
He said that the implementation of the policy would create employment for the citizenry, reduce poverty and improve Nigeria’s GDP.
Olatunji said further that another inherent advantage was that Nigeria would be able to influence trade relations with other countries by not being import-dependent on leather materials.
He said that the policy’s approval was also commendable because the long and short-term goal would promote national growth and development.