Ogun State Government is ready to take Adire fabric, produced in Abeokuta, to the international market, in order to compete with the outside world, encourage export and empower local producers, thereby boosting the State’s economy.
Speaking with newsmen after a meeting with the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, leader of the Committee on the Promotion of Adire, Mrs. Adeola Adeojo, explained that the plan to make the local material economically viable would be in phases for the product to be globally acceptable.
“It will be economically empowering for the local producers of Adire. We are going to make the product globally appealing which will translate into export for economic empowerment of the people and put our cultural heritage on the world map’’, she noted.
Mrs. Adeojo said the State Government had commissioned the committee on Adire to make the local production processes an international tourist attraction and economically viable, saying the Governor was committed to ensuring that adire was well positioned to benefit the whole value chain in the industry.
‘’He wants us to put it out globally because it is the cultural heritage of the Abeokuta people, so that people will know that the origin of Adire is in Abeokuta”, she said.
Also speaking, a member of the Committee, Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, observed that, though the fabric had been in existence for decades, it was mainly in cotton, saying they would look at ways of producing it with satin, silk and chiffon, to appeal not only to Nigerians and Africans, but the global market.
