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As the hours passed, the rain persisted, I was about to lose all hope. Then at around midday my friend, the one i mentioned who had joined me at Balogun market, called me to resolve my plight. He sent his cousin to meet me in Lekki, who would then accompany me to Mushin. By the time the cousin arrived the rain had stopped also. I was very thankful! Not only that i will be sticking to the itinerary i had made for my Lagos trip but also i knew that my friends cousin would have more bargaining power regarding taxi fares and be able to negotiate better prices for what i required at the market.(see previous blog post on Balogun market)
A two and a half hours "cheapish" taxi journey later (We set off at around 1pm. This is not advised by the way. Leave for markets early morning!) we arrived in a built up area swarming with market traders, hustlers, beggars, customers. Advanced planning had enabled me to develop a contact at this destination through a friend who makes custom handbags from leather goods in Lagos. I understood the relevance of this once i arrived at the market because it is absurdly large, you could easily get lost and caught up with excitement at all the stalls selling leather, suede and the like.He also offered me invaluable advice on understanding how market traders price leather and how i will be able to identify real leather from the fakes.
My friends cousin did a stellar job trying to navigate the taxi to my leather contact. He jumped in and out of the taxi more than ten times asking locals if they had heard of the road we had been advised the stall was located on. We sent the taxi driver the wrong way a number of times often getting caught up in a traffic of market customers. We even phoned my contact several times but he was quite useless in directing us. The Igbo to Igbo conversation between my friends cousin and the leather contact still led to confusion. (I imagined if i had gone alone like i intended to initially..what a joke that would have been).
After half an hour of navigating Mushin leather market by car we eventually located the contact. He was just about packing away so i was thankful i had arrived just in time. A little more face to face Igbo conversation and the contact was soon throwing all his colourful leathers on a wooden table in front of me. And they were amazing! Red, yellow, mock croc skin, mock snake skin or whatever, an array of leather...i was certainly impressed. Out of the millions of skins he offered to me I narrowed it down to five and then studied the fabric for its dyed colour, holes in the fabric, size and then cost. Eventually i chose only one, (i know, stingy right!) slightly large piece of fabric, one side dyed navy blue, the other side dyed black with gold flecks (main picture). It is a stunning piece of leather and i started my negotiations, eventually purchasing it for what i felt was a bargain!
I could have easily stayed at the market for an entire day if i had arrived earlier. Beautiful suede fabrics, synthetic leather, raw leather hides; stalls were busy and lots of (informal) money was changing hands. Leather, an apparently $43.4 billion export industry in Nigeria, is crying out for investors (click here for more info). So yet again, another area for private investors to splurge their cash in. Also another area for the government to stop neglecting and start investing in.
Believe it or not, footwear is prohibited from import into Nigeria, (Exactly. Click here if you don't believe me) so investing in the leather industry will aid in boosting manufacturing industries in Nigeria such as shoes, handbags, jackets and furniture, potentially spilling over to other parts of West Africa, wider countries in the continent and internationally, thus producing jobs, boosting the market etc etc.
Yes Olusegun Aganga...i'm talking to you!
