‘Aba CFC will serve better as training centre’

The Common Facility Centre (CFC) would serve the Aba finished leather sector better, if it is made a training centre, rather than a production facility, Okechukwu Williams, president, Leather Products Manufacturers Association of Abia State (LEPMAAS), an association of shoe, belt and bag makers in Aba, says.

He attributed the under-utilization of the facility, to its location at Industry Road, which he said is about 10 kilometers away from Ariaria, the present location of the Aba finished leather cluster.

The ingenuity of Aba artisans, especially, the garment and finished leather sectors, attracted the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in partnership with the Federal Government, to set up a common facility centre (CFC) in the city, to support the clusters to further develop their skills.

The strategy behind the setting up of the CFC was to gather sectoral and geographical concentration of enterprises, faced with common opportunities and challenges and with the primary objective of exploiting external economies through collective effort and sharing common facilities for enhanced processing of their products.

It is to also serve as a centre of excellence for capacity building and provision of cutting edge technology for competitiveness enhancement.

However the facility has been dormant since it was commissioned, eight years ago, a development stakeholders attributed to its location.

According to Williams, finished leather production is done sequentially and every process requires a machine, which must be within your workshop or very close to the workshop.

“That facility should not be seen as a production facility, but a training centre, Government should open it up for training. Institutions and development partners can use that facility to train people.”

Christian Nnajiaku, managing director, Kenzy Shoes, observed that the shoe makers are yet to understand the purpose behind the setting up of the centre and urged the CFC management to enlighten artisans on the facilities available at the centre and its importance to their production. 

According to him, our members need to be enlightened. Majority of us are not aware of trends in the sector and if we must compete effectively, we need to imbibe modern trends, which includes the use of modern machinery and participation at workshops and seminars.

It is estimated that Aba hosts 110,000 shoemakers and 50,000 garment makers.