Agency Reports
By Sani Idris
Oodua Youth Parliament, a CSO, has lamented, alleged poor management of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Techology (NILEST), while calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to replace its leadership in order to address the nation's dependence on foreign leather products and create jobs for Nigerians.
Hon. Abdulmajeed Oyeniye, Speaker of the Oodua Youth Parliament, made the call in a statement issued to journalists on Tuesday in Kaduna.
He said research institutes everywhere around the world are supposed to be centres of excellence and innovations.
"They are supposed to be specialised centres pioneering advanced innovative research projects and churning out products that are useful for both individual consumption and industrial use.
"They are often reference points attracting grants and endowments as well as manpower. Research institutes are ranked on the basis of inventions and patents that come them,"he said.
Oyeniye, however lamented that, sadly, the Nigerian situation and more specifically, the situation in NILEST is appalling and deplorable.
He explained that NILEST was conceived with the aim of harnessing the vast potentials in the flourishing livestock industry in country especially in Northern Nigeria.
He noted that Northerner parts of the country has over 100 million of cows, goats and ships with thousand slaughters daily, where the country was projected to be a net exporter of hides and industrial hub in the leather and skin industrial sector.
"More than 20 years down the line, nothing has changed and it got worse under the present administration of Professor Mohammed Kabir Yakubu," he lamented.
Oyeniye further explained that the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations had shown that Nigeria exports less than 100 tons of hides and skin, which he said it was questionable if the quantity was exported to neighboring African countries and whether it is just raw skin or actually hides.
"There has not been any visible footprint of NILEST anywhere in Nigeria even though there are abattoirs spread across the country from Maiduguri to Lagos and Port Harcourt. All attempts made at skinning and preservation are done at the individual level with no input from a supposedly professional body.
"The crude practices and techniques still in existence, is making it impossible for the country to produce leather fit for domestic consumption talk more of exportation," he said.
Oyeniye further alleged that Prof. Yakubu had done nothing to justify the huge taxpayers money invested in NILEST which he headed for years.
"Nigerian animal skin especially cow skins are only useful for local consumption as 'ponmo'. There is no industry in Nigeria that processes animal skin, not even the laboratory in NILEST.
"While the machines and manpower is on standby, there is no management direction and input from anywhere, thereby making government investments a total waste,"he alleged.
According to him, Nigerians still prefer Italian shoes and bags and belts.
He said the raw materials from which they are made is the same cows Nigeria have have in abundance.
He suggested that If NILEST is incapable of pioneering research in skin and hides preservation, they should have partnered the local tanners in Katisna, Zaria, Kano, Borno and elsewhere.
"This is totally unacceptable and must be stopped,"he said.
Oyeniye furthermore, alleged that NILEST had cost Nigerians millions of jobs, noting that with the resources and capacity available to them, millions of Nigerian youth ought to have been trained in skinning, preservation and collection of hides across the country for onward processing at designated centres for export and use by local shoemakers.
"Imagine five employees per an abattoir across the country. Imagine the indirect jobs that would have come with this arrangement. The value chain from animal skins and hides would have been enormous," he said.
He added in dismay that the inability of Prof. Yakubu to deliver was enough to send him packing back to the classroom where he came from, saying that he has performed abysmally.
"Infrastructure development under his tenure is poor with nothing to show for so far. Aside house personal comfort, there has been no staff promotions and further studies grants since he assumed office.
"At a time Nigeria is seeking to diversify and shift from high dependence on oil, we don't want a leader that thinks only about their personal interests. A new DG that will reposition the Institute and revive the research culture for industrial gains and economic development is what we want at the moment,"he added.
Describing the NILEST DG as a nepotist, Oyeniye said that in a recently and certainly an apparent show of eye-service, he announced the establishment of ₦350 million tannery in Daura, the President's home town in Katsina State.
"Isn't it unfair that an Institute located in the Northwest Geopolitical Zone will choose to site a project like that within the same region? Are other states like Lagos, Oyo or Ekiti not part of the country again or was the institute established only for the Northwest region?
"This is unacceptable to the generality of Nigerians and must be reversed in the spirit of federal character and fairness,"he said.
The Speaker further said that investigations had shown that the NILEST DG is a Professor of Textiles Technology and not leather or agricultural production technology.
He also alleged that the DG was neither an expert in natural resources management.
"Putting square pegs in round holes in a country like Nigeria with abundant professionals in almost all fields is shameful. No wonder, the DG has failed to make a mark because it is an area he has no knowledge or expertise whatsoever.
"After sacking him which is the right thing to do, President Buhari should endeavour to appoint a technocrat who will drive the leather industry and give Nigerians value for the huge investments and potentials available in leather processing.
"Stakeholders and actors in leather including livestock owners and other key actors in value chain have lost confidence in his leadership.
"While we call on President Buhari to use his good office and sack professor Yakubu, we urge the him to equally bring a replacement that will prioritize youth training and partnerships that will address the dependence on foreign leather products and create jobs for teeming Nigerians.
"Policies aimed at stopping the consumption of 'ponmo' should be backed by concrete actions aimed at harnessing the abundant skins and hides for a vibrant leather industry,"Oyeniye said.
Sheikh Gumi: Vote those who won’t fight bandits, they are our people [Video]
Gumi had accused Christians in the military’s counter-insurgency/banditry campaign of being responsible for the killing of bandits.
With less than 2 months to the 2023 general elections, popular Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has told his congregation to vote for those who will not fight bandits if elected into office.
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What Gumi told his congregation: In a sermon, the controversial Islamic cleric urged Nigerians to vote for leaders who would negotiate with bandits when elected into office.
Who Gumi asks his people to vote: Describing bandits as “our people,” Gumi said Nigeria’s next set of leaders should negotiate and give bandits what they want for peace to reign.
What he said: “Don’t vote for those who will fight bandits. The fighters (bandits) are our people. So please vote for those who, after attaining power, will call and negotiate with our people (bandits) so as to give them what they want for peace to reign,” he said.
States affected by Banditry: Bandits have been ravaging some Northern States like Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, and Taraba.
They have abducted and killed some persons while collecting ransom worth millions of naira.
Who is Sheikh Gumi: Gumi is a prominent, yet controversial, Muslim cleric acting as a self-appointed middleman between bandits and the government. Gumi is the eldest son to late Shaykh Abubakar Gumi. He was born in Kano state. He came from a geneanalogy of islamic scholars with his father being the first Grand Khadi of the old Northern Region.
Before now Sheik Gumi, who rose to the rank of a captain as a doctor in the medical corps of the Nigerian Army, had accused Christians in the military’s counter-insurgency/banditry campaign of being responsible for the killing of bandits. It was a remark with the potential, if not the clear aim, to set off a sectarian war in the military. For quite a while, indeed, Sheik Gumi had come under sharp criticisms from Nigerians who view his mediatory role of appeasement as overtly conciliatory and accommodating of the outlaw activities of the terrorists.
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