Zamfara leather dealers decry hike in price

The state chairman of the association, Alhaji Yusuf Adamu, said foreign tanneries are not doing justice to the indigenous dealers of leather resources and jeopardizing the future of the business.He spoke at a workshop on demonstration training of the leather value chain organized by the federal ministry of agriculture for the hides and skin dealers […]

The state chairman of the association, Alhaji Yusuf Adamu, said foreign tanneries are not doing justice to the indigenous dealers of leather resources and jeopardizing the future of the business.
He spoke at a workshop on demonstration training of the leather value chain organized by the federal ministry of agriculture for the hides and skin dealers in Zamfara state.
Yusuf Adamu said, “The issue is that there is no single Nigerian who invested in the leather business to own or establish tannery, as such, the business has remained a monopoly of the Lebanese and they are doing whatever they like to the leather dealers because they determine the quality, the quantity and even the price of our products and this is seriously affecting our business and we cannot do otherwise.
He said there was a time the association lodged a complaint with one of the past administrations of the state on the possibility of establishing a tannery whether public or private but it yielded no result.
“Zamfara and neighbouring states are known for their quality leather products because we are tagged ‘red goat’ and if there is tannery in Zamfara there’ll be no single reason for us to take our products to non-indigenous tanneries in Kano state.
“I’m calling on the state governments to come in and assist in this business because there is no single hides dealer who can boast of N20m capital,” he added.