NIGERIA’S shoemakers move to China and different parts of Africa in search of animal hides and skins, yet the only institute meant to conduct research conduct and development on leather technologies – Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology Zaria – devoted highest budgets to the refurbishment of civic centres and buildings.
According to the 2026 budget of Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology Zaria, N3.5 billion was allocated for the ‘construction and furnishing of civic centre in selected communities in Niger Delta region at 500m per lot.’ The amount represents 25 percent of the institute’s N14 billion total budget.
The leather institute’s second biggest budget went to the ‘construction of male and female hostels and general renovation of buildings.’ The line item is taking N2.1 billion off its N14 billion. The two items – unrelated to the institute’s mandate – has gulped 40 percent of its budget this year already.
In 2024, Nigeria imported leather valued at $50 million, as per Trading Economics data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In 2023, Nigeria imported leather of other animals primarily from: Togo ($2.08 million), Ethiopia ($1.94 mllion), Italy ($519,000), Tunisia ($419,000), and Pakistan ($106,000). The fastest growing origins for the import of leather of other animalsmin Nigeria between 2022 and 2023 were: Togo ($1.2 million), Portugal ($74,100), and Kenya ($41,300), according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s reforms gain traction as economy expands for 11th month
The scarcity of hides and skins is hurting over $680 million local leather industry. The sector comprises producers of shoes and bags. Aba, Lagos, Kano and Onitsha are major manufacturing hubs for leather.
Scarcity of leather
In Aba, there are more than 100,000 players. Some of them told Economy Post that they could not currently get hides and skins from leather producers in Nigeria as tanneries in Kano and Kaduna, which are in the business of processing animal skins into leather, preferred to sell to buyers from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, China and India, paying them in dollars and euros.
“What we see is that the moment tanneries up north finish production, they export the leather to Europe, Asia and the Americas. But sheomakers here struggle to access the leather,” said National Secretary, Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAIN), Mr Ken Anyanwu.
Dereliction of duty
Yet Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology Zaria hasn’t committed serious resources to the development of leather in the country. Nigeria has 64.93 million heads of cattle, and 54.81 million horses, according to the Nigeria Agricultural Sample Survey (NASS), with an estimated 88 million goats. But these are not sufficient due to the competition between consumption and industrial use.
The institute is spending N459.421 million on the ‘completion Of Kogin – Kasa Wase – Tofa road’ and N350 million on the ‘fencing and landscaping of Nilest Extension Centre in Naki Gori, Plateau State.’ In fact, all the biggest budgets of the institute are going to non-core areas, which negate its mandate.
READ ALSO: Rewane sees 2026 as turning point for Nigeria’s economy, naira, markets
“I am not surprised,” said a Kubwa, Abuja-based governance expert, Ms Chisom Ohuabuike. “Most government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) are structuring their budgets away their core mandates,” she said.
The governance expert explained that poor budgeting remained the biggest reason Nigeria’s objectives were far from being realised. “Our budgets are left in the hands of politicians and civil servants who see them as opportunities to enrich themselves or score cheap political points. This explains why the budgets keep rising, yet Nigerians keey getting poorer.”
She said unless Nigeria adopts a new budgeting system that would make civil servants more accountable, the nation might not realise some of its objectives, including hitting the $1 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) target by 2030.
