The Lagos-Kano Investment Summit seems to be yielding positive results as the Lagos state government seeks to leverage on this economic partnership to set up a shoe factory.

Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, disclosed this on Monday at the annual Ministerial Press Briefing to mark the third anniversary of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration. This comes after the 2nd edition of the recently concluded Lagos Leather Fair.

“Recently I was at the Leather Fair and I saw the extent of the value chain of leather and was really impressed. Part of the fall out of the Lagos-Kano Summit is for us to leverage our strengths and comparative advantage. Kano is the hub for Leather and our plan is to have a leather hub, a shoe factory here in Lagos,” she said.

Nigeria has one of the largest livestock populations in Africa, and Kano is home to some of the oldest and largest tannery due to the high slaughter rates of goats and cows in the northern region. Despite these factors, the country imports about $500million worth of leather products annually, with over 200 million in shoes, to augment local production capacity of 4 million.

Oladunjoye revealed that the state government has concluded plans to activate the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Kano state government at the summit to set up a leather hub in Lagos.

Lagos provides a viable market for processed leather. Apart from Lagos in the South West, cities like Aba in the South Eastern parts of the country account for most of the local demand for leather. The only challenge expected would be the transportation of the leather skins from the northern state.

The Lagos-Kano Economic and Investment Summit took place earlier this year. The event was to mark the beginning of a better economic relationship between the two major commercial cities for sustainable economic development. And it followed the successful agro-economic Lagos-Kebbi partnership that produced “Lake Rice.”

The global leather market is estimated at $72 billion and the state can grab a significant share of that market while also meeting local demands.