Senate to ban shoe importation by federal agencies

…declares support for Enyimba Automated Shoe Company

President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, yesterday in Aba, Abia State, hinted that the upper chamber will begin to discourage Federal Government agencies from importing boots being worn by their workers. Lawan, who said this during the official commissioning of the Enyimba Automated Shoe Company (ENASCO), said that for Nigeria to become a prosperous country, she must embark on a must import substitution and hailed Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu for taking the issue of unemployment seriously.

The Senate President, who was accompanied at the commissioning by the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu, Senator Theodore Orji and some other senators vowed to ensure that ENASCO becomes the hub of direct and indirect employment in the country. New Telegraph reports that ENASCO, which has the capacity to produce 5,000 pairs of shoes daily, currently has over 120 Abia youths directly employed as staff of the company. According to Lawan: “We cannot continue to import everything. We don’t even have foreign reserves anymore. So, this project in addition to providing employment in Abia directly, it’ll indirectly provide jobs at the leather industries in other states

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“I believe that this project deserves the attention of every federal agency more especially the ministry of industries itself and indeed the CBN must be looking at this direction so that it can expand. “While we have 120 youths been employed here, I’m sure that two years after we should quadruple the rate of employment here and that will require improvement in all angles here. I’m sure that as one of you now, we’ll push for more support for this particular industry. “We have our agencies already making requests for boots and of course some garments by the time the garment industry takes off. I think we should do more than that.

We must Nigerianize to create employment for our youths.” Lawan said that as the Senate commence its budget defence, he will ask all senate committees that whenever they see agencies that require boots, they must make sure they come to Aba. Speaking earlier, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said that ENASCO will help position Nigeria into the leather industry ecosystem globally and ensure Nigeria derive much revenue from it. “ENASCO will push out 5000 pairs of shoes every day to launch Nigeria into the fast-growing shoe industry globally. We can become major players in the leather industry ecosystem if we’re intentional about it.

“It is only through the patronizing of our own products that we can revitalize our economy and be self-sufficient in all we want. “We’re a doing a similar factory that will have full automated garment factory. We’re looking for a way to compete with Vietnam and Bangladesh in the supply chain of garments across the world.”

New Telegraph