Nigeria wants to set up new youth-driven leather cluster
18/07/2016
Nasir Sa’idu Adhama, a senior special assistant on youth and student affairs to Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, has said the government wants to transform Nigeria’s leather industry into “a global force”.
Mr Adhama led a high-level delegation of experts, including Tukur Umar, the founder and chief executive of Abuja-based leathergoods company Leather Matrix, to find partners in the UK with manufacturing and trade expertise. The ultimate aim is to create “a top-quality leather cluster, to be operated by youth and for the benefit of the youth and the nation”.
This cluster will encompass the full value-chain from tanning to marketing of finished product. It will attempt to establish “a sustainable, skilled leather industry and create entrepreneurial opportunities for Nigerian youth”.
“We can make Nigeria a leader in Africa, and even the world, in the production of leathergoods,” said Mr Adhama at the start of the visit to the UK. “By combining our traditional skills with modern production and marketing techniques I am certain that this sector can show the way forward towards a diversified, high-quality manufacturing future in Nigeria.”
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