In order to revitalize tanneries, THE Federal Government has announced that it is drafting laws that would outlaw the consumption of animal skin, known locally as “ponmo.”
Muhammad Yakubu, the director general of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology, or NILEST, Zaria, announced this on Sunday in Abuja.
According to the Agricultural Research Institute Act of 1975, NILEST was established to encourage the manufacture of leather. The institute carries out research on leather manufacturing, leather goods, and the use of domestic tanning resources in the nation.
Yakubu said that the act was required to resurrect the nation’s dead leather sector.
To save the industry and strengthen the economy of the country, he suggested ending the practice of eating animal skin, which has little nutritional value.
“To the best of my knowledge, Nigerians are the only people in the world that overvalue skin as food, after all, Ponmo has no nutritional value,” he said.
“At one point, there was a motion before the two chambers of the national assembly, it was debated but I don’t know how the matter was thrown away.”
He claims that the current status of the tanneries in Nigeria is mostly due to the consumption of animal skin.
He added that several basic issues facing the industry had been addressed under the present National Leather Policy.
“If we get our tanneries, our footwear and leather production working well in Nigeria, people will hardly get pomo to buy and eat,” Yakubu said.
“When implemented fully, it would turn around most of the comatose tanneries and ginger greater output in production.”
Yakubu appealed to stakeholders to support the legislation and the national leather policy to revive the sector.
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