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BY: News Peddlers
A federal leather development institute says it is proposing a legislation to ban the consumption of animal skin, locally known as ponmo, in the country.
Professor Muhammad Yakubu, Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) Zaria, stated on Sunday in Abuja that the legislation was required to resurrect the country's dormant leather industry.
He believes that eating animal skin, which has no nutritional value, should be discontinued in order to save the industry and boost the national economy.
"To the best of my knowledge, Nigerians are the only people in the world who overvalue skin as food, despite the fact that ponmo has no nutritional value," he explained.
The D-G stated that the institute, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, would approach the National Assembly and state governments to propose legislation prohibiting Pomo consumption.
"There was a motion before the two chambers of the National Assembly, it was debated, but I'm not sure how the matter was thrown away," he explained.
According to him, the consumption of animal skin is partly to blame for the tanneries' current state of coma in Nigeria.
"If we get our tanneries, footwear, and leather production working well in Nigeria, people will have a hard time buying and eating ponmo," Mr Yakubu said.
The D-G also stated that the current National Leather Policy had addressed some of the sector's fundamental issues.
"When fully implemented, it would bring most of the comatose tanneries back to life and ginger greater output in production," he said.
He urged stakeholders to support the legislation and the national leather policy in order to revitalize the industry.
According to the Agricultural Research Institute Act of 1975, NILEST was established to promote leather production.
It conducts research on all aspects of leather production and products, as well as the use of local tanning materials in the country.
(NAN)