Why I Set Up A Tailoring Institute In ABEOKUTA – Otunba WASIU TAIWO

• WESSY Tailoring Boss, Otunba WASIU TAIWO Explains

Have you visited Abeokuta of late? Have you noticed the new tailoring institute that has just been opened opposite the Governor’s office at Oke-Mosan, besides Olusegun Obasanjo Hill-Top Estate?

We can tell you a lot about it. It is called Wessy Tailoring & Vocational Institute founded by Otunba Wasiu Jaiyeola Taiwo, a veteran fashion designer and tailor.

His name is big in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. He is also well known across the 36 states of the federation. This is not only a popular tailor, he is also a fashion designer. He is the NATIONAL PRESIDENT of the NATIONAL UNION of TAILORS which has since become the National Association of Tailors, made of professional tailors. Everyone calls him Wessy, which is the name of his fashion outfit called Wessy Creations, but Otunba Wasiu Jaiyeola Taiwo is big in the fashion industry, having been around for close to 50 years. He was born into Tailoring. His father was into Tailoring and he grew up learning the ropes from him, from the age of 12.

Wessy has taken a bold step by opening WESSY TAILORING and VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE in Abeokuta. It is located opposite the Governors office at Oke Mosan, inside a highrise made up of 3 floors, each floor fully fitted with industrial and sewing machines.

There are various sections on each floor that provides various facilities and machines. For instance, there are industrial sergers for finishing, monogramming and heat transfer machines, industrial cutters. There is a section for pattern drafting and cutting, with industrial cutters that could cut a thousand pieces at once. There are also industrial steam pressing machines. It is a state of the art training and production hub for mass production of outfits for both local and export market.

As it is, the new tailoring institute can take 300 students at a go, with state of the art, fully automated industrial machines for mass production. Already classes have started and he has appointed a highly qualified Director of Studies and programmes, Mrs. Temitope Lanre-Alade to kickstart the institute. Classes now run from 9am to 3pm. There are rooms for lectures/training. The courses have been divided into 3 categories made up of the Basic, Intermediate and Advance class. We can authoritatively reveal to you that the vision of Wessy Tailoring and Vocational Institute, is to start as an institute, then it will go on to become a College of Fashion and ultimately become a University of Arts and Fashion. Below is what he told City People a few days back.

Why did you decide to set up a Tailoring Institute in Abeokuta?

Its a long time dream that God has made a reality. I have always had the dream since the beginning. I always have it at the back of my mind that tailoring profession is a leading profession and its been relegated to the background. Some African countries depend on it for sustenance. It is a big income earner. We need to develop the human capacity of our people, so that we won’t go outside this country to bring in our work force to do some of the jobs we need to do. When we talk of development its a combination of the efforts of government and the individuals in the private sector.

In the Tailoring sector we are supposed to have government support to help us get to this level. We are talking of generating employment. We need to make our environment conducive for business. What we are trying to do is to train our students to become professionals tailors so that we can then use them for our production. The end result is to have a production hub here in Abeokuta where anybody can come with a sample and we produce for you. You can just go and sleep. We can produce hundred and thousand pieces of what you want. That is exactly what we want to do.

That will provide work for so many people. You can be an offtaker, that is you will just deal with the finish products alone. We will produce and you will do the marketing. It is the informal sector in any country is supposed to be the one running this kind of project, I mean small businesses. But here in Nigeria have we don’t have the structure for doing it at all levels. So, you start small then you grow big. But here the middle class has been completely knocked down. It is the middle class that can afford to say I want to have a business that will employ a few people. But they are no where to be found. So, its either you are rich or poor.

We decided to go into this project because we want to bridge that gap to make sure that the unemployment generation in our industry, we must do something about it. That’s what we are doing we are just starting, we have a dream and we want to follow the dream. By the grace of God we would pursue that dream.

What is the capacity of your Institute?

Presently, we have capacity for 500 students. By the time we want to start our production we must need nothing less than 300 so put together we would need about 800 people. We are now even looking for space. There are so many equipments that we need to instal but no space. We need space. We are thinking of moving to our permanent site.