FG inaugurates committee for rehabilitation of Ladi Kwali Pottery Training Centre

Ademola Adegbite | Abuja

MINISTER of Mines and Steel Development, Honourable Abubakar Bawa Bwari, has inaugurated a six-man ministerial committee on the rehabilitation of Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre, Suleja, to kick-start the rebirth of the pottery industry in Nigeria after several years of neglect.

The committee has Engineer Sani Alhassan as Chairman, while Umar Shaibu, Umar Saleh, Yunusa Muhammed, Linus Adie and a representative of the Niger State government as members.

Represented by the project coordinator of the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver), under the ministry, Mr Linus Adie, the minister said he was excited to be associated with efforts to revive the Ladi Kwali Pottery Training Centre.

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He said the goal of the Federal Government was to restore the glory of the centre, “and the inauguration of the steering committee will be the first step in that direction in order to develop a strategy for the rehabilitation of the centre.”

According to the minister: “Our target is to re-create the glory of the past era and surpass it; as a young student in the Government Secondary School, Suleja, the Centre was regarded as a citadel of industry and technology, where ordinary clay is transformed into aesthetic household wares.

“The Centre attracted several visitors from all over the world, just as it brought the Nigerian local pottery industry to international fame, and to us, it stood as a symbol of industry.”

Honourable Bwari described the centre as a good example of achieving the goals within the nation’s local industry when accomplished, especially in view of the country’s current plan of diversifying the economy and creating employment opportunities for the population through the utilisation of local resources for industrial production.

The minister charged the committee with the responsibility of developing a new concept for the Centre, while bearing in mind the strong need for its sustainability, analyse the current market segmentation and bring out the product lines, keeping in mind the need to maintain the globally accomplished Ladi Kwali brand.

He said the members of the committee should recommend capacity programmes that include national coverage, recommend funding model which will ensure the sustainability of the centre, as well as suggest the necessary infrastructure that would drive the fulfillment of the objectives for the new centre.

The members are also to suggest any downstream development, especially in the area of raw materials supply, which will sustain the pottery industry in the country.

While speaking, chairman of the committee, Engineer Alhassan said “we will do all we can to get the assignment done.

“It may seem daunting but we will do our best. What the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has done is historic,” he added.