The cry is getting very loud, the voices getting deafening and the fear getting very real. It is all about saving the Nigeria local Adire industry from Chinese invasion. From literature to direct interaction and physical observation, the Chinese Adire fabric is fast replacing the locally made ones. This has dire implications on our heritage, local employment and market control.
According to a February report, approximately $6 billion worth of textile fabrics annually enter the country from China and India with a larger share coming from China. These are range of fabric which include a counterfeit of the locally produced Adire. These materials have quickly found their way into the market and caught attention of consumers.
Market dominance of Chinese substandard over local authentic Adire and the call to save the industry
Locally produced Adire carries the weight and the appearance of the Nigerian artistry having been manually made with quality material by the women who spend time and energy on the job. Following the time and energy expended on the production, dealers are required to place order ahead of their stocking schedule as patronage began to expand. This created a gap between demand and supply.
Though the gap existed, producers were up their game, recruiting more hands to meet up with market demand. Chinese gained access into market after taking samples of local designs to China, mass produced them with lower grade material, and shipped into the market at cheaper prices. Because they are cheap, they quickly have become the staple of many Nigerian fashionistas at owambe parties, especially in Lagos and its environ.
This call to save this industry has been on for over 5 years since the local plyers began to loose the market following the invasion and coupled with government new tariff imposed on the chemicals used for production.
Guardian reported in November 2023 of a peaceful protest by the Itoku Adire market leadership and dealers in the fabric, to the palace of Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, to register their displeasure over the volume of the inferior Adire textile from China in the Nigeria market. The protesters wanted the paramount ruler to save the age-long traditional textile from going into extinction.
In January this year, Punch reported the same agitation of traders and producers of Adire in Ogun State expressing their exasperation over the alleged failure of the federal and state governments to address the incursion of Chinese-made and adulterated fabrics into local markets.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo added his voice urging the Federal Government to ban the importation of Chinese Adire into the country to save the local Adire market from imminent “bastardisation” by the Chinese.
Up till this moment, the importation of Chinese-made Adire has continued unabated riding on government failure to pronounce and effect the ban, according to local producers.
Related – IITA And UN Strengthen Alliance To Scale Agricultural Innovations For Nigeria’s Food Security Crisis
Needle Works by Pat specializes on beading on clothes. She receives all classes of fabrics made into wears including Adire. Upon interaction, she presented the two types of Adire, the Abeokuta made and China made. The difference is striking. The Abeokuta made Adire is heavier, brighter and artistic compared to the soft, liight and poorly patterned Chinese made.
Consequences of Loosing Adire market to the Chinese
“Production of Adire fabrics goes through about nine stages and, at each stage, you have hundreds of youths and women earning a living. If you remove all these people from the stages of production, we will have a massive loss of jobs”; says an Adire market leader, Michael Ogunfidodo.
While the ban is the first step to take, government must follow up with other strategic interventions. It is very true that manual production in Abeokuta can never measure up with the automation in Guangzhou. It is nonsensical for an industry to remain manually depended in this era of technological advancement. Government must invest in the industry and raise the level of production process.
