Popular Aba shoe producers hit by Economic recession

The times are indeed hard for the ever enterprising shoe pro­ducers in Aba, Abia State. And unless something ur­gent is done by the author­ities to reduce their cost of production, most of the op­erators will close shops.
According to them, the current economic recession has continued to bite hard­er to the extent that they can longer pay for imported glue or synthetic leather, the es­sential materials for shoe-making because of the high exchange rate of the dollar to the naira.
Some of the hapless op­erators said that they have been forced to produce just half of their installed capacity before the current recession set in.

Already, some of the shoe producers have cut their workforce to remain afloat.
One of the producers said that shoemakers in the Enyimba City had never had it so rough as they are now calling for urgent attention to make the business envi­ronment more friendly for them.
One of the shoemak­ers, Chibuike Nwandu, said that he used to manufacture 1,000 pairs of shoes daily but lamented that since the prices of glue and synthetic leather were inflated, it had been impossible to meet up with that quantity.
His words: “Shoemak­ers in Ariaria Internation­al Market as well as other manufacturers in the Eny­imba City have never had it so tough. The truth remains that with the inflated costs of acquiring raw materials for shoes, consumers in neigh­bouring Cameroun, who used to buy Made in Aba shoes, are now opting for cheaper Chinese foot wears and you know what that por­tends for our trade.”
It was learnt that before the recession about three truckloads of shoes, bags and other leather-finished products leave Aba for oth­er West African markets per week.
“As at today, that move­ment has been cut to every fortnight,” a worried produc­er said.
Chairman of the Shoe­makers’ Association in Aba, Mr. Goodluck Nmeri, said their business faces very se­rious challenges as it has be­come extremely difficult for them to obtain foreign ex­change, even from the par­allel market to import the materials needed for shoe production.
His words: “We are tired of hearing about support from the Federal Govern­ment. We only read about it in the newspapers, see and hear about it on the televi­sion and radio. But we are yet to see anything concrete. We need forex, regular power supply and good roads to en­able our customers come in and leave when they want.”
Nmeri therefore called on the Federal Government to consider placing restric­tions on the importation of shoes as well as ready-made clothes into the country. He asserted that his members have the capacity to pro­duce all that Nigerians need to wear.
“We can do it here in Aba, try us. We currently de­pend on export of our prod­ucts as only a fraction is sold in the country, because Ni­gerians are crazy about any­thing that has a foreign label.
“That is why our custom­ers take supplies here, take it off-shore, put the label of a foreign country and bring it back to sell in different parts of the country as foreign shoes,” Nmeri said.
The Chairman of Aba North Industrial Market (Shoe Plaza Division), Ar­iaria International Mar­ket, Hon. Christian Okoro, said that if they were given the needed support, the en­tire Africa and the rest of the world would be coming to Aba for their shoes and oth­er leather goods.
Okoro said: “Aba prod­ucts are making waves in different cities in the African continent in addition to the customers from all parts of Nigeria, especially from the northern parts of the coun­try.”
He claimed that Aba products are taken to Dubai in the United Arab Emir­ate and Italy where they are given some finishing touch­es, imported back to Nigeria and sold as foreign shoes.
Okoro identified the ma­jor challenges facing the in­dustry as high cost of raw materials, importation of inferior materials especial­ly gums and chemicals from China, and the unwillingness of leather producers in Kano to sell genuine leather to Aba shoemakers.
He lamented that leath­er dealers in Kano prefer to sell their original leathers to Italians and other foreigners who would pay them in hard currency.
“Now, people adulterate chemicals and sell to us be­cause it is hard to get original chemicals from Italy.”
Okoro also listed unsta­ble power supply, absence of modern equipment and ma­chines, poor access roads, and lack of funds as prob­lems stalling the growth of the industry.
However, at the Ariar­ia International Market, the industrial hub of the market - Bakassi Zone, Shoe Plaza, Power Line, and Imo Avenue – still enjoyed huge patron­age. Several shops were how­ever locked.
The market is estimated to house over 70,000 shoe­makers besides apprentices.