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THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014
THE NATION
BUSINESS JOBS
• A training centre for adire in Osogbo, Osun State.
Adire, a seasonless vocation for all Adire, a locally designed fabric, is fast becoming popular fashion among both the rich and powerful in the society. It is a fast growing industry both nationally and internationally. The sector holds job potential for all class of the jobless, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI reports.
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DIRE is the traditional Yoruba hand painted cloth on which patterns are made. The designs are made by tying and stitching the cloth with raffia or cotton thread, or by using chicken feathers to paint cassava paste which then acts as a resist-dye. Despite the influx of foreign batik into the country, Adire continues to enjoy much popularity in the fashion and style subsector, just as it is loved by Nigerians in the Diaspora. Over the years, Adire has been creating job opportunities for people irrespective of their education. With the growing army of the jobless, it is an industry that holds enormous potential for job opportunities. A specialist in Adire and Chief Executive Officer, Expressionale, Mr.
Olatunbosun Ayodeji, identified job prospects in the sector to include tie/dye, marketing, pressers, dyers and sellers. He said: “Tie/dye is a vocational work that is creating lot of employment opportunities. The venture provides opportunities for marketers, the tiers (the professionals who specialise in tieing the fabrics), to the dyers (those whose duty is essentially dyeing the fabrics), the pressers, and sellers (the marketers). So, it involves a lot of people which also includes the artist.” For all these cartegories of job opportunities, there is no hard and fast rule to entry the market. This implies that people with the West African School Certificate (WASC) Ordinary Level (O/L) as well as those with university degree or its equivalent could easily find accommoda-
tion in Adire business. All that is required is apprenticeship attachment to someone that is already in the business. How long a prospective an adire entrepreneur spends in learning the trade will depend on his/her ability to catch up. Managing Director, Nike Centre for Art and Culture, Osogbo, Mrs. Oyenike Okundaye, said her outfit has enhanced the lives of many jobless Nigerians by offering free training. According to her, the growing business opportunities in the textile art is also drawing expatriates and undergraduates. She said: “We admit undergraduates from many universities in Nigeria for their industrial training (IT) in textile design. “Over the years, this centre also now ad-
mits students from all over Europe, Canada and the United States (US). International scholars and other researchers in traditional African art and culture also visit the centre from time to time for their research into Yoruba adire fabric processing and African traditional dyeing methods.” Oyenike recalled that the booming business of adire was caused by the ban on imported fabrics in the 70s. This ban, she recalled challenged the ingenuity of Nigerians, necessitating improvement in adire quality and designs. “After the ban on imported goods in the ’70s, Adire Eleko has become a big seller in Nigeria, which a few bought before. People are returning to tradi•Continued on page 38