…as Global Adire Egba Development Limited partners SMEDAN
The Global Adire Egba Development Limited has unveiled the ‘Adire Village’ blueprint, a comprehensive initiative aimed at creating jobs, youth empowerment, and promoting indigenous textile production, in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
Olajumoke Familoni, the project coordinator speaking during the project unveiling on Monday, August 11, said the village is born out of the vision to consolidate and empower the indigenous Adire industry in Abeokuta, and to serve as a catalyst for economic growth and cultural preservation.
“The village is designed to have a huge impact on productivity and employment for this nation; for instance, students are going to be having cultural competitions here.
“People will be involved in the packaging and tie and dye production activities; students in the Chemistry Department will be involved in colouring processes; students are going to bring in their creativity, and a lot of research, creating more employment,” she said.
Familoni, who is a professor of management and entrepreneurship, emphasised that the Adire Village project will change Nigeria’s economic narrative for good by boosting its foreign exchange.
“Imagine if the white fabrics that are used for the production of Adire are locally sourced, instead of imports, we have 100 percent cotton, and we have industries packaging, dye making, T-shirts, dresses, all from Adire.
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“The West will be coming to source the materials here, in Nigeria, for their department stores in the US, and other Western countries; and imagine the foreign exchange it will generate,” she noted.
Oluyinka Kufile, the committee chairman, told BusinessDay that the reason for the initiative was to curb the instances of some unscrupulous people smuggling Adire materials
“We discovered that Adire has been produced by some unscrupulous people who are smuggling them into Nigeria, and the only way we can stop them is by creating a production hub, whereby we can produce raw materials in large quantities for our people.
We want to start the Adire by outsourcing the materials at the onset, along the line, we move to the next stage, which will mean we have to be producing the materials locally,” he said.
Kufile emphasized that the goal is to have Adire in every fashion fabric, and that will cost much, hence, the move for synergy with SMEDAN, and others.
“The Adire village is where you can have practically everything: dyeing, screening, and all sorts of things. Everything will be in one village; very soon, we will have Adire in shirts, jackets, and various outfits.
“I believe the government will like it, and they will give us all the necessary support to be able to make it better; that is why we are partnering with SMEDAN, which is a federal government institution,” he noted.
Furthermore, while explaining to Oba Michael Gbadebo, the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, who was the guest of honour at the occasion, he said, “We held a result-oriented discussion with the SMEDAN; however, we would like to have a legal framework to ensure whatever we are doing will last from generation to generation.
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“We also want a situation whereby we’ve the confidence to borrow money from banks, international organisations to develop what we have here today,”
Charles Odii, director-general/CEO at SMEDAN, was represented by a team from the agency led by Olukayode Shode, southwest zonal coordinator, and Awoliyi Biodun, Ogun State manager.
Biodun assured the committee and Alake that he and his group will do their best to ensure that the dream of Adire Village, as nursed by the committee, is realised by taking their requests to the SMEDAN director-general in Abuja.
“I’ll try my best to meet my team and also my zonal coordinator to see how we can push your requests. I think I will have to do more consultation with the DG to clear all the necessary bottlenecks,” he said.
Aderemi Adetayo, the Balogun of Ake, in a chat with BusinessDay, said, “My greatest joy is that the director-general of SMEDAN has seen what we have been working on for quite some time, because you can be in a position and not be able to look into the future.
“Though I’ve not met him, but he’s a few steps ahead of what is happening, and he understands that SMEDAN has a role to play; hence, I’m elated somebody in government can see what we are doing here, and the agency has done one or two things before.”
Some core objectives of the initiative are to establish a public-private partnership institution that will globally market Adire from Egbaland, industrialise and mechanise its production process to match international competition, and make it readily available and affordable for all, among others.
