IT is not for nothing that Aba, the commercial city of Abia State,
popularly known as Enyimba city is also referred to as the Japan of
Africa. The ingenuity of its residents simply astounds. It ranges from
the dexterity of the technicians who fabricate machinery parts to those
who can manufacture a long list of items.
In Aba, the shoemakers
at Ariaria International Market constitute one group of entrepreneurs
whose activities have contributed in no small way to raise the economic
profile of the city.
About 39 years ago, the shoe and allied products
entrepreneurs began forming clusters in Ariaria after Ekeoha market was
razed by fire in 1977. The government consequently relocated the market
to its present location.
Between 1980 and the 90s, when the shoe
manufacturing business reached its peak, it had over 80,000 workers
operating under nine clusters located in the following places: Imo
Avenue, Shoe Plaza (where men’s shoes are produced), Bakassi
(Umueghilegbu) Industrial Market, Old Site, and then you have the bag,
belt, suitcase and powerline clusters. The last cluster that was formed
was the one known as ‘Chief’ which has 10,000 members.
In fact, these
men, and indeed a growing number of women, who populate the powerline
cluster, which goes by the official name, Powerline Shoe Manufacturers’
Association of Nigeria (POSMAN), churn out about 300,000 pairs of
various types of shoes every week, as Sunday Sun learnt from Hon.
Goodluck Joseph Nmeri, president of the association.
From
Ariaria, the products are distributed across Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon,
Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and some parts of
South Africa. In fact, Cameroonian markets receive the highest number of
144,000 pairs of shoes every week.
The interesting thing is that
the shoes are of very good quality. Nmeri explains it this way: “Our
own shoes last up to three years if you are talking about quality. Any
shoe purchased here in Powerline, we will give you a guarantee of two
and half years or three years depending on usage. But if you buy a
normal coupled shoe here in Powerline, we will give a guarantee of three
years, unlike China shoes which last for about six months.”
Despite
this assurance on quality, shoe manufacturers in Ariaria, Aba still
find it difficult to label their products “Made in Nigeria.” What is the
reason? Nmeri was prodded. And here’s his response:
“In the
early ‘80s through the middle 90’s, we were doing well and proudly
labelling our products ‘Made in Aba.’ By then people were coming from
various African countries such as Gabon, Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory
Coast, Equatorial Guinea and some parts of South Africa (they are our
major customers), to place orders for our products. After finishing the
shoes, we would send the goods to them by waybill.
“So,
we were doing absolutely well until Nigeria signed a bilateral trade
agreement with China. It was a very unwise thing to do. You see, Chinese
businesses were producing what we produce, but it was substandard and
cheaper.
“Chinese were using machines, modern technologies and
cheap stable power supply to produce shoes. Soon they started flooding
Nigeria with their substandard shoes which were also flashy. Nigerian
women rushed for them and abandoned our own because we normally use
leather and synthetic leather to produce footwear that last longer than
the Chinese products. In China, they use lining to produce their shoes
and that’s why the last only for three months.
It was when that
agreement was signed that we started having problems here in terms of
sales. If you go into the market today, you will see China-made shoes
everywhere in the market where our products are supposed to dominate;
that is the number one challenge we have.”
He explains
further: “Initially, as I said earlier, in the early 80s, we were
labelling our products as “Made-in-Aba” because we had no challenge
then. When the Chinese flooded our markets with their shoes, we found it
very difficult to sell and sustain our families. To be able to sell our
products then, we were compelled by the attitude of Nigerians to label
our products “Made-in-China” because our customers believed that the
Chinese shoes were superior. Some of our people also took it further and
labeled their products “Made-in-Italy,” so that they could get
patronage. So we copied the labels, logos and other symbols of the
imported Chinese products. Our products looked exactly like the Chinese
shoes and when mixed with them, the customers could not differentiate
the Chinese shoes from the ones we made in Aba.
“Indeed it was
because of hunger that we did it. At that time, you could make 20 pairs
of shoes in one day and it would take you one week to sell them unlike
in the past when we could produce and sell 200 pairs within three days.
Moreover, we were producing according to specified orders placed by our
customers; therefore, we didn’t need to make different samples, but just
to finish the shoes as ordered and freight to the customer. That was
why we changed from branding them as ‘Made-in-Aba’ to ‘Made-in-Italy’
and ‘Made-in-China.’ and it would take you one week to sell
The
cheery news is that shoe manufacturers in Aba have now realized that
though their action enabled them to earn some income and sustain
operations, what they did was not good for either the Aba shoe industry
particularly or Nigeria at large. To reverse this, the leadership of the
various clusters have resolved to restore the pride of their craftsmen
in shoe design and production by stamping their products “Made-in-Aba.”
Nmeri
explains: “The present government in Abia State promised to look into
the plight of shoe makers in Aba; because of this, we have directed our
members to brand their products ‘Made in Aba’ and they have started
doing that. To support us in this regard, we want the Federal Government
through the Ministry of Trade and Investment, the Central Bank of
Nigeria and the Bank of Industry to help us create special intervention
under the MSME Fund. This will help us so much as we will be able to
acquire better machines at affordable cost and also secure long term
repayment plan. The government should also try to provide stable power
to Aba. What gives China an edge over us is stable, cheap power supply,
cheap labour and modern production technology. Our people are gifted and
very enterprising. We can make substantial contribution to the Gross
Domestic Product of the country earns and foreign exchange from export
of shoes made by our indigenous enterprises. Please help us take this
message to President Muhammadu Buhari.”
So, when next you are buying
shoes, endeavour to look out for the ones stamped ‘Made-in-Aba’ because
they have been confirmed to be more durable and in most cases cheaper
than the foreign ones.
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