Newly Launched Adire on Wheels would Boost Economic Growth Says Ooni of Ife

Mary Nnah

Chairman of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has said that the newly launched Adire mobile boutique, “Adire on Wheels” will boost the economic growth of the country by providing employment to the teaming unemployed youths in the nation.

Speaking during the Lagos launch of the Adire on Wheels recently, the Ooni of Ife said, “We have a lot of youths that are unemployed, so we need to continue to be creative and come up with new innovations.”

Describing the initiative as a beautiful idea being driven by Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub, the royal father said the enterprise will take a lot of youths off the streets in terms of employment, adding that, “The Adire on Wheels is a product of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub being driven by Princess Ronke Ademiluyi and we are very proud of what she is doing”.

Adire on Wheels, first of its kind, is a new project of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub courtesy of His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, who keeps seeing the need to empower and support the youths.

“For the initiative Adire on Wheels, our plan is to have 15 persons per wheel and we would spread it across the entire country and by virtue of that our youths don’t need to be looking for employment but rather would be self-employed.

“And also, those depending on imported materials will redirect their interests to locally made fabrics and as such will boost local production and boost economic growth – the bottom line is employment for our youths”, the Ooni added.

Speaking further, Oba Ogunwusi said, “You can imagine a total package for each youth. 15 of them can have a wheel (a motor vehicle) and would be given a catchment area where they would sell to the people around that area after work as a lot of them do not have the time to go to shops but can easily buy authentic Africa fabrics from the Adire on Wheels.”

The Adire on Wheels is a mobile van that is branded with Adire and has so many Adire designs in it for sale.

The initiator of the project, Princess Ademiluyi, who is also the coordinator of both the annual African Fashion Week London and African Fashion Week Nigeria, expressed gratitude to God for having the opportunity to re-launch and be more innovative and more creative despite the global challenges in the last couple years.

“We all know what happened in 2019; it was a year of COVID, a lot of businesses shut down; we couldn’t have African Fashion Week London, or the African Fashion Week Nigeria, so ending the year with the launch of Adire on Wheels, which is the project of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub, Ile Ife, is every reason to be grateful”, she noted.

Speaking further, she noted, “What we intend to do is that a lot of people cannot come to Ife and we also know that Lagos is the commercial centre of Nigeria, so we decided to bring it to Lagos and besides the Adire on Wheels, we are going to be offering workshop services and selling to the public as well.”