MADRID — Nigeria’s envoy to Spain has met with leading shoe manufacturers in Alicante to secure technology transfer and modernise Nigeria’s domestic footwear industry.
Ambassador Okezie Ikpeazu led a delegation to the Valencian region—Spain’s premier shoemaking hub—visiting the INESCOP Footwear Technology Centre alongside prominent commercial brands including Pikolinos and Hispanitas.
The initiative forms part of a wider economic diplomacy push under President Bola Tinubu to boost local manufacturing and attract foreign investment.
Upgrading Local Capacity
Nigeria boasts a vibrant, artisanal shoemaking sector—notably centred around hubs like Aba—where thousands of cobblers produce footwear manually with limited machinery. Ambassador Ikpeazu highlighted this local ingenuity during talks with Vicente Pastor Perez, President of the Valencian Association of Footwear Manufacturers Entrepreneurs (AVECAL). He noted that structured partnerships could help Nigerian artisans transition from manual methods to industrial-scale production.”Closer collaboration with Spain’s well-established footwear cluster offers significant potential for Nigerian manufacturers,” Ambassador Ikpeazu said, emphasizing the need for technical exchanges, certification standards, and modern design tools.
Industrial Partnerships
Talks focused on several key areas of cooperation:
Technology & Innovation: Partnering with INESCOP to adapt sustainable materials, quality control, and advanced machinery for Nigerian factories.
Skills Development: Establishing training attachments and capacity-building programmes for Nigerian technicians.
Business Matchmaking: Creating direct business-to-business links between Spanish brands and Nigerian enterprises. AVECAL confirmed its readiness to partner with the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid to establish formal frameworks for trade and technical exchange between the two nations.
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