CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: EVOLUTION OF FOOTWEAR PRODUCTION IN ABA
Introduction
This study examines the historical antecedences of the manufacturing of Footwear in Aba, Abia state. In Nigeria, shoes have become one of the many principal products in the market, even in one of the biggest markets so far in West Africa (Onitsha main market). Shoes are also among the priority products consumed by everyone; hence the market is a growing one.1 With the restrictions on the importation of foreign shoes, the industry has a wider market to cover. It is true in the sense that in addition to serving its former customers, it has to extend hands to these segments of the market that were previously served by foreign shoes. It becomes obvious at this juncture to observe that shoes have various market opportunities.2 It partitioned the way it will please customers, like we have infant market for shoes, youth’s market, as well as adult market for shoes. With the increase in birth rate resulting to more infant and youths respectively within the economy, this market continues to grow in order.3 However, it is against this backdrop that this study seeks to survey the history of shoe-making in Aba from 1970 to 2022.
Historical Antecedence of Footwear in Nigeria
For most of history, shoemaking has been a handicraft, limited to time-consuming manufacturing by hand. Traditional shoemakers used more than 15 different techniques for making shoes. Some of these were: pegged construction, English welted (machine-made versions are referred to as “Goodyear welted” after the inventor of the technique), goyser welted, Norwegian welt, stitch-down, turnout, German sewn, moccasin, Bolognese stitched, and blake-stitched.4
The origin of footwear is vague. However, ancient Egypt is generally credited with its use (especially sandals) in 3700BC. Egyptian wall paintings also lend credence to this, showing thong sandals with flat soles made of papyrus or leather. Various laced sandals, some with heel guards and thickened soles, were worn in Mesopotamia, Crete and Greece. Akkadian Sculpture shows slippers with upturned toes, of the type also worn in Persia.5
A late 16th Century innovation introduced high heels for both sexes. This fashion was particularly popularized by Louis XIV of France, who wore them to boost his modest height. In the 18th Century, the soft boot was replaced by the stiff cowhide jackboot, held up by a metal frame (jack) and often cut away behind the knee. Foot soldiers wore cheaper ankle boots with side buttoned, canvas gaiters. During the Napoleonic Wars, officers and other gentlemen wore jackboots, including wellington boots while male civilians wore narrow, flat, buckled pumps.6
By the mid-19th Century, shoes began to be mass – produced in several factories, and thus became more widely available to the general public. Men wore laced or elastic-sided ankle boots. Women wore heeled shoes, low cut, laced or buttoned to the ankle. Canvas – topped, rubber-soled shoes (sneakers) were introduced for sports. Since the 20th Century till date, emphasis on youth and informality influenced shoe design. Protection, aesthetics and status symbol are key functions of footwear today.7
In Nigeria, however, documented accounts debunked the popular notion that trade in goods and craft is an imported culture, which started with the advent of the Europeans. These accounts buttressed the vibrancy of production and trade by different local communities, in craftsmanship (such as bronze, brass and leatherwork), besides agriculture. This trade continued internally and externally (in the latter case, with the monopoly of guilds, social classes) up till 1860: a year before Lagos became a British colony.8
The advent of the Europeans only shifted the emphasis of this traditional economy from “real sector” to trading(in European ware). This was particularly accentuated by the amalgamation of major British firms, to form the United African Company (later renamed Royal Niger Company) with the ulterior motive of fending off local(and foreign) competition in these and other products of interest. Following local agitations and restiveness, the company’s Charter was revoked in 1899 for its monopolistic tendencies, “which deprived the local inhabitants of the benefits of free trade, and the advantages of choice in competitive market.”9
The activities of this (and other) colonial companies marked a turning-point in the consumption mapping of Nigerians, as it exposed local inhabitants to more convenient, and affordable western products, to the detriment of the existing local ones. The oil boom and the Udoji Salary Awards of the 1970s, were the last straw on the domestic real sector, as conspicuous consumption erupted.
It is against this backdrop that successive governments, especially from the late 1980s,commenced desperate measures to reverse the now dangerous trading economy, with a high consumption preference for foreign products. The major measures included the Structural Adjustment Program (1986), and the New Industrial Policy of Nigeria (1988).10 These, in turn, led to the establishment of several relevant agencies such as:
- The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC)
- Industrial Training Fund (ITF)
- Industrial Development Coordinating Committee
- Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)
- Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO)
- Project Development Agency, Enugu (PRODA), etc.
Despite these, poor attitude to home made products/firms especially footwear, persisted. Furthermore, Bullion using 1985 as the base year, revealed that the highest Index of Manufacturing Production (IMP) for the footwear sub-sector in Nigeria peaked only in 1987 at 93.9 percents. From 1997 to2004, it consistently hovered “in the red” between 49.9 percent and 44.3 percent. A clearer picture of the menace of “foreignization” of consumption in the footwear industry was captured by the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) export–import figures for the period 1999 to 2002.11
The economy paralysis in the indigenous footwear (and other) sectors, apparently informed the extant import prohibitions in February 2004, vide Item 33 of the Revised Federal Ministry of Finance Circular (2005). Yet, available cumulative figures from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since the 1980s released in 2004, as well asthe Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on capacity utilization, remain worrisome. And between 2002 and 2009, 1.9 million jobs were lost, and 834 domestic manufacturing firms closed, owing to imports, smuggling and generally poor infrastructure.12
Aim and Objectives of this Study
The aim of this study is to give a detailed record of the artistry transformation of Aba locally made foot-wears, from 1970 to 2020. Its specific objectives include:
- To examine the evolution of shoe-making in Aba.
- To examine the changes and continuities within the footwear making industry in Aba.
- To investigate the effect of this trade on the local economy of the people of Abia state, and Nigeria in general.
- To examine the impact and international relevance of locally made Aba footwears.
- To shed light on the challenges of production and marketing of foot-wear in Aba.