Is there any reason why Nigeria should not declare 2026, the International Year of Shoes? Given our penchant for fashion, we should be the world’s number one footwear manufacturer

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Do you know that the global footwear industry was worth $290bn in 2019 just before the coronavirus pandemic struck

[2] Post-Covid, in 2022, the global footwear was worth $382bn as more shoes got sold worldwide and in 2023, it was $398.40bn

[3] Nigeria is in the unique position of feeding the African footwear market, which has the potential for the greatest growth simply because more Africans will cease to be barefoot than anywhere else on earth. Just imagine how many shoes you are producing if 100m people cease being barefoot

[4] Now, Aba is central to this plan as it has established itself as the footwear capital of Nigeria. I look forward to Aba and its environs becoming one big footwear company

[5] Virtually every Abriba and Ohafia family has one shoe and clothing retailer. It is now time to turn them into manufacturers

[6] For me, anyone importing finished goods into Nigeria is just an enemy of the people. Such money is blood money as those importers are only impoverishing our people. Their crimes are as great as those of public officials who embezzle state funds in my opinion

[7] I have a lot of respect for the Aba producer, even if his products are sub-standard and comical for now. Within two years, we can turn all these Aba-made products into world class goods

[8] Japan, Taiwan and China all started out as manufacturers of cheap and sub-standard goods but look at them today. I remember Skoda too was once the butt of every car joke but look at their vehicles today

[9] I want to see 500 footwear operators from Aba, Abriba and Ohafia join forces to create a consolidated company named something like Ngwa Enterprises and set itself the target of matching Bata at the least for now

[10] China is the world’s leading producer of footwear, with a total of approximately 13bn pairs of shoes produced. Between them, China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia account for 75% of global output. Nigerians should be ashamed of themselves that they are not even among the top 10 producers

ayoakinfe@gmail.com