Nigeria counts the cost of eating leather
Nigeria is losing $150 million annually in foreign exchange earnings, according to the country’s tanning industry.
The reason is the national ‘delicacy’ of ponomo (hide and skin) soup.
According to master tanner Gambo Paiko, every year more than 1.6 million pieces of hides and skins out of the 1.7 million pieces produced in Nigeria end up in soup pots.
He stated that approximately 37 million square feet of hides and skins were consumed as food in Nigeria annually - enough to make 15 million pairs of quality leather shoes that would fetch up to $150m in national revenues.
