FG matriculates 70 leather incubates, commissions infrastructure
The federal government has matriculated 70 trainees at the North Central Geo- political zone Regional Leather Centre, Utako District, Abuja in steps that will promote Leather Technology in the country and quicken industrialisation process.
Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, while commissioning the Leather training infrastructure said it will help to build the needed indigenous capacity that will enable the nation domesticate this vital technology.
According to him, “this will also strengthen our capacity to convert our rich agricultural products into viable economic goods and services that we need for both domestic consumption as well as to strengthen export earnings.”
Onu added that the infrastructure will help in job and wealth creation, also help to restore national self- reliance and self-confidence and enhance prosperity and boost our economy.
Dr. Onu disclosed that the process of creating additional Leather Research and Development Center in other geopolitical zones of the country where none currently exits has reached advanced stage adding that it is expected that this would help strengthen greater grassroots participation in leather technology, thereby helping to stimulate more indigenous capacity for the ultimate benefits of our people.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Leather Technology (NILEST), Dr. Eucharia Oparah said the training is intended to address the shortcomings that are always encountered in the production process and hoped that the experience garnered at the training would be sustained.
“In a recessed economy such as the country is facing, there is no doubt that the involvement of organized scientific and technological approaches would provide the much-needed palliatives”, she added.
Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mallam Musa Bello Mohammed who was represented by the director Abuja Enterprise Agency, Mallam Tukur Arabi said that for Nigeria to achieve sustainable development through Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), it is imperative that greater collaboration across the sector be fostered.
He stressed that leather is the second highest revenue source after oil, which makes the need to diversify into Leather value chain (LVC) inevitable.
The formal inauguration of the Nigerian Institute of Science and Leather Technology (NILEST) North Central Regional Leather Research and Development Cluster Extension Center and Commissioning of Leather Training infrastructure was jointly organised by FMST through NILEST and FCT Agency for Science and Technology.
