Artisans in the Aba finished leather cluster, hosting shoe, bag and belt makers in Africa, are seeking special government intervention to douse the negative impact of the ongoing lockdown in Nigeria occasioned by coronavirus pandemic.
The over 200,000 artisans in the fourteen zones that make up the Aba finished leather cluster are among the first groups in Nigeria to start feeling the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Ken Anyanwu, national secretar y, Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAIN) observes.
He says that the problem created by coronavirus pandemic is being felt seriously in Aba due to shortage of imported raw materials from China, which has resulted in low productivity and loss of jobs for labourers, who are mainly youths.
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This is as the ongoing lockdown, announced by the Abia State government, has resulted in the shutdown of production , thereby compounding their woes.
According to Anyanwu, “Aba started feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic two weeks after the outbreak was first reported in December, 2019, in Wuhan, China.”
He says Aba is a huge cluster in Nigeria, West Africa and Africa, where finished leather goods and raw materials exchange hands— more than any other in Africa.
“It is also interesting to note that China is the biggest source of machines and raw materials for the over 200,000 finished leather manufacturers in Aba,” he notes.
Anyanwu explains that Nigeria imports about 400 million pairs of footwear from China per annum.
A breakdown of imported footwear from China are 700 40- foot container loads of ladies footwear ; 250 40- foot container loads of men footwear, and 50 4- foot container load of children footwear.
These imports, according to Anyanwu, are mostly concluded in November every year.
Consequently , Aba i mporters had almost foreclosed importation of both footwear and raw materials from China before the announcement of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
He states t hat the outbreak of the pandemic s aw the c e s s at i o n of business activities in China, which caused scarcity of both finished products and raw materials in Aba.
In his words, “The first sector affected by this pandemic are the over 200,000 artisans in the finished leather sector in Aba.
“Most important raw materials for finished leather goods production became scarce by February 2020, and that was when manufacturers started to feel the hardship.”
Aba l eather cluster produces an average of over 300,000 pairs of footwear per annum before the outbreak of coronavirus.
This quantity of products are lifted daily, from the 14 zones that make up the Aba finished leather cluster, creating a beehive of activity in the Ariaria area of Aba.
However, the problem created by coronavirus in China is also been felt seriously in Aba due to shortage of raw materials for production and loss of jobs for most of the daily labourers.
“Today ever yone is complaining of hunger, as there is no job to do to get food,” Anyanwu says.
“The shortage of raw materials has so far brought about loss of business and loss of revenue,” he further says.
“We may witness the shoemakers coming to work to look for what they and their families will eat if nothing is done. This might lead to further human crises should one person in the cluster contract the virus.”
He advised relevant authorities to do something to reduce the suffering of these manufacturers from the effect pre and post effects of coronavirus, stressing that they are among the vulnerable groups.
