• Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Nigeria Misses $1bn Leather Export Goal As Raw Hide Shipments Persist

by Cees Harmon
3 weeks ago
in Business
nigeria
Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

Nigeria’s ambition to expand its leather industry to $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 may have fallen short, industry data and stakeholder interviews have shown, with export earnings stuck below the $1 billion mark and value‑added production still minimal.

Advertisement

Figures from the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) indicate that the sector generated roughly $921 million in 2024, well below the billion‑dollar target set out in the National Leather and Leather Products Policy unveiled four years ago. The NEPC maintains that output could reach $1.5 billion if processing, financing and infrastructure bottlenecks are resolved, yet little progress has been recorded on these fronts.

Nigeria exports 90 percent of its hides in semi‑processed form, which accounts for $272 million. The rest is used to process various leather products, mainly in Aba, Abia state.

Producers in the leather industry express skepticism about attaining the $1 billion value chain because the conditions that hampered the growth of the industry remain unchanged.

In Aba, often dubbed “Africa’s China” for its bustling clusters of artisans, shoe makers say electricity outages and obsolete machinery cap production. “Our products can rival imports, but without reliable power and equipment loans we cannot scale,” said Aba‑based footwear producer Nkechi Ofor,
The same sentiment was aired by a leather bags producer, Lewechi Kemakolam. “This is our trade. We can’t run from it; but conditions have to change before we can grow this industry to our potential,” he said.

RELATED

Kano Govt Renames KUST After Dangote

Dangote Sees Growth In Export Of Refined Products With $1.35Bn Afreximbank’s Deal

4 hours ago
Egbin Power Advances Energy Transition Drive, Appoint New CEO

‘Egbin Power Plc, Ikeja Electric, FIPL Not In Receivership’

4 hours ago

According to the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Nigeria has an underproduction problem, when compared to Vietnam, with a population of 96 million, and an annual production capacity of 760 million pairs, while Nigeria, on the other hand, produces 48 million shoes from its local production epi-centre- Aba, which houses the largest shoe clusters in Nigeria.

Only a few shoe factories continue to operate and are barely surviving through government contracts to supply leather shoes to the Army, Police Force, and the Ministry of Defense. Most of these shoemakers make use of old machinery and mundane methods to sustain their production capacity. This affects their ability to scale and increase their production capacity efficiently.

There are also the issues of logistics and supply chain that are bedeviling the industry in Nigeria. One manager of a shoemaking factory in Aba, Paul Mbanefo, told this medium that despite the fact that Nigeria is a major producer of hides on the continent, some of the raw materials used to produce bags and shoes in Aba are imported. He blamed the problem on “lack of national coordination”.

Market research underscores the lost opportunity. Data from Statista values the global leather goods market at $400 billion, while the worldwide shoe segment alone exceeds $270 billion. Analysts estimate that Aba’s shoe workshops account for a mere 0.0013 per cent of global footwear sales.

Back in 2021, then vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo predicted the industry could “easily top a billion dollars” by 2025 if Nigeria moved from raw exports to finished leather goods. A National Leather and Leather Products Implementation Plan, covering eight thematic areas—funding, infrastructure, R&D, and environmental standards among them was launched to drive the shift.

Yet many of the plan’s milestones remain unmet. One staff of the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology warned that without a single coordinating framework linking “research, education, industry and exports, the country will continue to trail Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Morocco in value‑added leather trade.

Environmental compliance is another obstacle. Several international buyers now demand traceability and eco‑friendly processing, standards many local tanneries cannot yet guarantee, according to Sani Idris, manager of a mid‑sized tannery in Kano.

There appears to be a belief that the proper implementation of the policy on leather in which there are specific provisions that relate to some aspects of the national development plan is the only measure that will enable Nigeria to maximally benefit from the industry. As a policy that is both sector-specific and harmonised version of such past laws as Northern Nigeria Hides and Skins (Export Duty) Act of 1962, Hides and Skins Act of Federation of Nigeria of 2004, Agricultural Transformation Agenda of 2012 and the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan of 2012, the document contains well-defined plans for the speedy development of the leather industry in particular and the national economy in general.

With less than six months left in 2025, industry leaders fear the billion‑dollar mark will remain elusive unless promised reforms move from policy documents to factory floors.


We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →

Join Our WhatsApp Channel




Tags: Leather Industry
SendShareTweetShare
Previous Post

Insurance Stocks’ Capitalisation Surges To N586.86bn In H1

Next Post

Global Finance Named RMB Best Transactional Banking Provider

Cees Harmon

Cees Harmon

You May Like

Kano Govt Renames KUST After Dangote
Business

Dangote Sees Growth In Export Of Refined Products With $1.35Bn Afreximbank’s Deal

2025/08/07
Egbin Power Advances Energy Transition Drive, Appoint New CEO
Business

‘Egbin Power Plc, Ikeja Electric, FIPL Not In Receivership’

2025/08/07
NIMR Faces Power Outage Over ₦38m Debt
Business

Nigeria’s Power Market To Hit $503.67m By 2030 – Report

2025/08/07
FAAN Signs Capacity Building MoU With Dubai-based Firm
Business

Expansion Of Terminal 2 Part Of Airport Renovation – FAAN

2025/08/07
Niger/Kogi Customs Seize Car, Others Worth N755m
Business

Ahead Of Take-off, Customs Engage Importers, Operators On AEO Migration

2025/08/07
Kogi Stakeholders Task Federal Gov’t On Ending Benue Killings
Business

Aviation Workers Ask Tinubu To Cancel Airport Concessions Nationwide

2025/08/07
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

WAEC: Students Complain Of English Language Grades

Kwara Flags Off Free Medical Outreach

Our Children Deserve Classrooms, Not Abandoned Projects — Obi

JUST-IN: NCAA To Ban Fuji Star KWAM 1 From Flying In Nigeria

BBNaija10: Chaos As Zita, Mide Engage In Pot, Knife Fight

Davido, Chioma Jet Off To US Ahead Of White Wedding

Police Promote Personnel, Distribute N14.1m To Families Of Diseased Officers In Sokoto

NIMC Cautions Public On NIN Self-service Portal Access Over Security Protocols

We Must Build Political Parties Bigger Than Gov’t in New Nigeria — Obi

US Directs Immigrants To Update Address Within 10 Days

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.