By Onyinye Igwe
Nigeria is a country blessed with many resources and while we may not have done justice to those said resources, Nigerians have a lot more to offer to the world if they would be given the chance to. We have skills, skills that were harnessed and developed under the most unfavourable of conditions, skills that can rival the best the world has to offer.
Our ingenuity can be felt at its peak in the heart of Aba, the Ariara market, where citizens have devoted themselves to shoemaking. The craziest part of this story is that they learnt to make quality shoes without going to standard schools. They learnt them on the streets!
Research has shown that the Aba shoemaking industry is estimated to be worth over 100 billion naira due to orders and partnerships with other African countries. In my opinion, this particular market should do better and can do better but a couple of reasons have slowed its development. Let us highlight those factors
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Lack of government Aid: Encouragement and incentives are keys for the proper functioning of any business or industry and it is unfortunate that the Nigerian government do not give proper support to these industrialists. A place like Ariara is supposed to have standard vocational schools that would train the youths to further promote their interests and skill as well. The government needs to invest largely in this market because, in truth, they would get their investments in no time as this is not a market that would go under any time soon.
Media blackout in the southeast: As commercial as the Ariara market is, the media blackout is an ailment threatening to eat it up and stop its progress. A market of its magnitude is supposed to have its own online marketing platform or it at least should be utilized by one but the media coverage there tends to keep them isolated and away from the world.
Disbelief: For lack of a better word to term it, I call it disbelief. Disbelief by the people of Nigeria that its people can produce high-grade commodities, disbelief that anything remotely good can spring off from this country. If you followed the story, you would have to come to terms with the fact that we Nigerians almost killed the shoemaking business when it started because we were not confident in our people’s abilities. It was so bad that the Aba shoemakers had to imprint the trademarks of foreign shoe companies on their shoes just for people to purchase them. Thankfully, this disbelief has waned over the years but it has in one way or the other slowed down the progress of the industry.
Truly, the Aba shoemaking industry is a goldmine but we can only get the gold if we do what is right by supporting these men and women who have sought to make this country proud!!!
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