The federal government says it is proposing legislation to
ban the consumption of animal skin, locally known as ponmo, in the country to
revive tanneries.
Muhammad Yakubu, director-general, Nigerian Institute of
Leather and Science Technology (NILEST), Zaria, said this in Abuja on Sunday.
Yakubu said the litigation was necessary to revive the
comatose leather industry in the country.
He said the habit of eating animal skin, which has no
nutritional value, should be stopped to save the industry and boost the
nation’s economy.
The director-general added that the institute, in
collaboration with stakeholders in the industry, would approach the national
assembly and state governments to bring out legislation banning “ponmo”
consumption.
“To the best of my knowledge, Nigerians are the only people
in the world that overvalue skin as food, after all, Ponmo has no nutritional
value,” he said.
“At one point, there was a motion before the two chambers of
the national assembly, it was debated but I don’t know how the matter was
thrown away.”
According to him, the consumption of animal skin is partly
responsible for the present comatose state of tanneries in Nigeria.
He also said the current National Leather Policy had
addressed some fundamental problems of the sector.
“If we get our tanneries, our footwear and leather
production working well in Nigeria, people will hardly get pomo to buy and
eat,” Yakubu said.
“When implemented fully, it would turn around most of the
comatose tanneries and ginger greater output in production.”
Yakubu appealed to stakeholders to support the legislation
and the national leather policy to revive the sector.
NILEST was set up to promote leather production as provided
in the Agricultural Research Institute Act of 1975. The institute conducts
research the production and products of leather and the utilisation of local
tanning materials in the country.
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You cannot stop me from eating my Ponmo ooo!!! look for how to revive the leather industry while keeping our Ponmo.
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