‘Pandemic still taking toll on shoe-making sector’

By Medinat Kanabe

For Muhammad Kabir Haruna, CEO of FAMAD Manufacturing Company, popularly known as Bata Shoe Company in the 70s, the year 2020 was bad for business and year 2021 is also showing similar signs as evident in the lingering lull affecting the nation’s shoe-manufacturing sub sector.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Haruna said one of the toughest decisions he took during the first wave of Covid-19 was when his company had to reduce staff from over 600 to 50.

“We had to rationalise our staff. We had over about 600 staff both internal and casual but today, I don’t think we have up to 50 staff right now. We tried to produce but we are not selling so we couldn’t keep the number of staff anymore.”

During the first wave, his company which hitherto had was a major footwear manufacturer and distributor of school shoes had to shut down as customers who used to buy shoes were also home, some lost their jobs and some had their salaries slashed. According to him, that was when the reality hit him.

“Our average turnover before last year was about N200m annually but last year our sales nosedived to less than N60m and this year with the way the market is there is too much cloud in the sky so the chances of us making our usual N200m turnover is not feasible.

“If we make a turnover of N85m this year, we will celebrate it because parents have also not recovered, they are still struggling to buy food so what we have observed is that children used their old shoes for school this year or go for the China or secondhand shoes.”

Haruna who has been forced to take the position of director and CEO because of the pandemic said his company experienced all shades of Covid-19.

“As we speak our company and factory is on lockdown and all our staff must take the Covid-19 test because a staff died of Covid-19 and another tested positive to the virus. We have also embarked on fumigation and disinfection of the office.”

Asked if his company has any plans to change business, he said it is impossible even if things get worse. “We have been known for several decades as the producers of footwears from the days of BATA. That’s why even the Yorubas call shoe bata. Things have changed drastically but we are still keeping to our traditional products.

Richard Okonko is the secretary Indigenous Manufacturers and Dealers of Footwear Association of Nigeria, IMADEFA. He is also an importer of shoes. According to him, many people have not recovered from the effect of Covid-19 and their customers don’t come to buy anymore. “Even those that resell don’t come to buy because people are not also buying from them. The prices of commodities have gone up. I am so frustrated that I have called the chairman of local shoe dealers to tell him that I might have to change business,” he added.

Obi Ifeanyi-chukwu Godwin, CEO Ani God Importers, said since 2020 he is yet to recover his losses. “It is so bad because the materials for the shoe production are also very expensive so demand is lower than what we used to have. We have goods but no one is buying. People with more than three children cannot even buy these days.  In 2018 we made a lot of money until 2019 but since last year we have not sold half of what we used to sell in a year.”

He said before in a month they sell up to 500 cartons and make as much as N7million profit but these days they don’t sell up to 100 cartons in a month. “We don’t even talk in cartons again, we sell on retails and in a month we don’t even make up to N1million,” he said.

Felix Ibekwe who is also an importer said, generally, the market is very scanty because people don’t have money. He said that before now, parents used to buy things before January but now it is different.

Speaking for IMADEFA, its president, Chijioke Obiora said before the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020, most of the importers and manufactures of school shoes already had bookings from customers in expectation of school resumption. “Everyone had laboured to make sure that they had different designs ready for the market with expectations to make sales when school resumes. “When school resumed in January they made some sales until March when the lock down started and the nightmare began.”

Another source who didn’t want his name on print said he knows a Chinese manufacturer who has closed his factory in Lagos and started the business of sand dredging in Ogun State.

“I don’t blame them because when lockdown lingered some of the workers looked for alternative work to do and those who were fully employed had to continue receiving salary when they were at home and other bills were piling up as well. When factories resumed, those abandoned shoes halfway got spoilt and many workers who had left didn’t return so factories recorded great loss.

Why we are not spending as usual on school shoes – Parents

Mrs Lawal Moses, a housewife who spoke to this reporter said her children have amended their old shoes and have since resumed school. “I sell outside the public school in my area and my customers are mostly students. During the Covid-19 pandemic of last year I was home and couldn’t sell much of my wares so all I was working for was money to put food on the table and support my husband.” According to her, her husband also fixes school bags in a small shop opposite the school.