Nigeria's female weavers yearn for better earnings, if State intervenes
Caps woven by young women in Nigeria.
In Nigeria’s north, women have traditionally been in the back seat due to strict conservative Sharia customs, making them dependent on men.
Now, the caps, popular among Nigeria’s top personalities, are routinely being churned out by the women, demonstrating their rise from the restrictions and the creative talent they possess.
These days, the source of the caps is Jigawa, a predominantly Muslim state of almost five million people, or Bama in North East Borno state, although men are the predominant crafters there.
The caps differentiated by names such as fila, hula or yaudi are known for their sleek embroidery. Nigeria’s famous personalities, including President Muhammadu Buhari, other politicians, musicians, movie stars and other influencers wear them.
It is a habit among these people to combine the decorative hand-embroidered caps with other traditional dresses or western-style suits.
Caps woven by young women in Nigeria.
Making ends meet
The motivation behind women’s rise to this tedious art may be out of need: seeking a livelihood.
The making of a cap starts with a design template that is sketched by hand, using a ruler and coloured markers.
Depending on the number of layers in the design, a cap can take two to five weeks to weave, with everything done by hand.
The women are seeking alternative sources of income as climate change and insecurity have combined to condemn locals to poverty. The Muslim state which borders Niger Republic in the north traditionally relied on pastoralism and subsistence agriculture but circumstances have changed drastically over the years.
Arable land is now scarce and herdsmen routinely engage in deadly clashes with farmers over available pastureland; a result of irregular droughts or floods that have become common.
The people here are predominantly Hausa and Fulani, conservative and living by Sharia laws. Women's participation in economic activities, even as weavers, was always unheard of.
But now, young women seem to be skirting around the challenge of conservatism and opting to weave to make ends meet.
They have taken on Nigeria’s popular dresses, handcrafting designs for the caftan and agbada, with caps to match. In Nigeria, it is common these days to see people donning special caps with these dresses or western-style suits.
Jigawa wasn’t the first to produce these caps. It has just taken the lead in fronting women to produce them, eclipsing other states. In Gurduba Village under the Kiyawa Local Government Area, women assemble at a factory every morning to weave the caps.
Finished pieces are then shipped to Shuwarin International Market in Shuwarin town in the local government area, the main centre where the caps are distributed to other parts of Nigeria.
Young women weave caps in Gurduba Village in Kiyawa Local Government Area of Jigawa in Nigeria.
Skills passed down
The women say they learnt the skills from their parents who in turn inherited the talent from their fore generations.
Hajara Mohammed, 20, says she decided to weave to earn money as other sources of income dried. She said it was no longer tenable to rely on her husband for upkeep.
“Farming became difficult because of flooding and bandits who invaded our land and started kidnapping people. I decided to join other young women in the trade. It has helped make money to supplement my husband's income," she says.
Working by hand is tedious but the women have no choice.
It takes long and requires maximum concentration to produce a neat piece of art yet this commitment, time spent and skill used doesn’t always come with the rightful financial rewards.
Each of the women taking part in the embroidery know they have to weave caps to be sure of the next meal but middlemen are the biggest winners in this trade that relies on ability to deliver pieces to the faraway markets.
As they have no access to seed money or capital to buy machinery, the handiwork which is popular earns the women little. The huge chunk of the profit goes to those who buy from them and distribute across the country - the middlemen.
Aisha Adamu, 23, says she has been weaving caps since she was 14. She notes the big, persistent challenge of the demand for mass production while the work is done by hand.
"With the right equipment and the necessary training, we can make more money and become empowered to support our families,” she says.
The cap weavers have, for the first time, formally appealed to the state and federal governments to include them in economic empowerment programmes to enable them to access loans which they will repay from the proceeds of the cap business.
“Most of us are poor. We collect the textile materials and the threads used in the production of the caps on credit from traders in Shuwarin market. The textile material cost $2.4 (N1,200) each, while the threads cost between $1.2 (N700) and $3.1 (N1,900) per roll, depending on quality and brand,” Ms Adamu says.
The women say they sell their caps at between $7 (N3,500) and $10 (N5,000) depending on the quality, but middlemen who buy them and take them to cities sell them at between $20 (N10,000) and $45 (N25,0000).
Some of the high grade quality caps are sold to politicians and high profile business people and celebrities for between $300 (N150,000) and $500 (N250,000), she says.
Direct access to markets
Hajara Hamza, 35, did not go past primary school and picked up weaving as soon as she got married.
She says the women can do better if they access city markets directly.
“If we get there, we can make meaningful profits,” she says.
Government support towards mass production that targets these markets and exports can be crucial, Hamza says.
“People from beyond Nigeria are buying them. If we get support, we can reach those markets.”
Nigerian officials say the opening up of the continental market through initiatives like the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCTA) can help these women, but there is always a mismatch between deed and say.
Currently, earnings from the trade are either too small or used almost entirely to support families, leaving little for savings or investment.
Ms Maryam Abdullahi, a 48-year-old who has been in the business for 26 years, says she has been using the proceeds from the sales to pay for her children’s education.
“The government's support will encourage us to produce more and explore new markets. This way, we can improve our lives.”
Mr Olusegun Runsewe, director-general of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), admits the craft can help reduce unemployment and poverty.
“We at NCAC are convinced that there are vast opportunities in the arts and crafts sector that the government can harness to create jobs, empower our people and drive the process of economic development," he says.
“One unique advantage of the industry is its capacity to accommodate both the educated and the uneducated, the young and the old, the able-bodied and the physically challenged, as well as rural and urban dwellers."
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently promised that the federal government will create a friendly environment for small and medium enterprises.
At the inauguration of the fashion cluster shared facility for micro, small and medium enterprises in Lagos in late July, he suggested that an economic sustainability plan will provide credit through the Survival Fund for small enterprises run by people such as the weavers, but did not give timelines.
