NewStats: 3,263,199 , 8,179,382 topics. Date: Thursday, 05 June 2025 at 02:52 AM 3wd3m

(CNN)As the world experiences a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, tailors in Nigeria are responding by hand-making equipment like overalls and face masks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3NGRe7ypnc

Rising demand, panic buying, hoarding, and misuse have disrupted the global supply of PPE, according to the World Health Organization, putting lives at risk.

Now, tailors in Abia state, in the southeast of the country, are using local fabrics, cotton, and polypropylene to sew PPE for people looking to protect themselves.

With cases of Covid-19 rising in Nigeria, the Abia state government released a 12 million naira (about $31,000) grant to tailors to make the protective gear.

The grant was disbursed to 100 selected tailors at the start of April to help them buy additional equipment, source materials and employ more people, according to Sam Hart, the director-general of the Abia State Marketing and Quality Management Agency.

Hart explained that the initial face mask samples were examined by a team of medical experts and that the gear is intended for citizens looking for protection, rather than for health workers.

The tailors sew different varieties of overalls and facemasks. Photo: Sam Hart

Local solution

So far, tailors in Aba, the state's commercial nerve center, have produced 200,000 face masks and 3,000 overalls, the agency said.

One of the tailors, Queen Duruibe, told CNN that the overalls she makes are waterproof and puncture-resistant, and are made from a polyamide fabric coated with protective materials.

Her face masks are made with cotton and polypropylene and are hypoallergenic, she said. She alsoproduces decorative face masks made from a colorful print fabric, which aren't intended to protect from coronavirus.

Duruibe had been producing face masks since January but says she has now taken on more staff and converted her fashion store to make up to 10,000 masks per day.

Queen Duruibe runs her own fashion store in Aba.

"I sew different types of clothes here in Aba and I usually buy my materials from China," she said. "But when coronavirus happened, they (her suppliers) started telling me how bad things are, that there are no materials and face masks are scarce.

"So I thought to myself that if things are so scarce, I can actually start producing them myself."

Finding buyers

The equipment produced by the tailors is sold for around 200 naira (roughly 50 cents), according to Hart, and it is finding a range of buyers.

"We had a pharmacist who bought 10,000 pieces to stock in his pharmacy for sale," he said. "The PPE overalls and face masks have been made available to the public -- anybody can order. We even have some Nigerians in the diaspora who have made bulk orders for their communities and villages here in Abia."

Tailors say the overalls they make are water and puncture proof.

The state government has also ordered masks, which it will distribute to the most vulnerable citizens, according to John Okiyi, the state commissioner for communications.

"65,000 of these facemasks have already been distributed in some local governments through churches and mosques," he told CNN. "The government has also ordered the production of an additional 150,000 face masks for further distribution."

He added that the state government has distributed N95 face masks to health workers, because those are more suited to medical professionals.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/17/africa/hand-made-coronavirus-kits-nigeria-spc/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/17/africa/hand-made-coronavirus-kits-nigeria-spc/index.html

lalasticlala mynd44 obinosy

Nice one...at least people go dey make a living outta the face mask for now.

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Good gesture.

Ok

It has to be from the East

There's nothing special about this.

See the local one I bought

[s]

CoronaVirusPro:
Good gesture.

[/s]

baconline:
See the local one I bought

How much did you buy one of this?

Armaggedon:
It has to be from the East

Is it drugs or kidnapping?

That's highly commendable...

Armaggedon:
It has to be from the East

some of una from that East get problem no be small

CNN again

Anyway, Igbo Amaka

Okay

I am tempted to say "Igbo amaka"

Necessity they say is the mother of invention

CNN and the way of trying to portray African as a slum city, is one problem they always have. With all fine fine places in Lagos, it is the slums there that attracts them. With all the fine fine isolation center in the country, it is the uncompleted ones that attracts them. That is not a good representation of African city.
If it was in western city, they will always try to show us the best of everything as if they don't have slums as well. It is high time they stop this their hypocrisy. I know African city is not up to but at least they can do better than that. Watching that videos with those images is far from true representation

This is also Lagos that they refused to show to the world

Nice, lets encourage locally made things, and government or anyone involved in producing this should be faithful with it in other to meet standard and specification because this has to do with people's health

The reason people avoid locally made products especially top class people is trust issues

Face mask is face mask
Imported or Homemade
All is the same.

If only cnn could equally tell the whole world how filthy aba looks like


When will I drive from ohafia to abiriba and down to Aro in peace and on good roads

Face Masks: This is what the Americans were threatening and busy scrambling with European nations over diversions from China.

CNN can be very sarcastic sometimes. Are they trying to shade Donald Trump

Nigeria will be great one day if all the wicked leaders in government can turn a new leave.

Why is this special?

I still think this is a bad idea.. they would have continued producing the normal face mask.. this one won't allow one to breath properly abeg

Nice one, let's import these to the whites. This is our own contribution to COVID-19