Textile manufacturers in Nigeria are calling on the federal government to urgently address the plight of the textile industry before it goes extinct.
The president of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers’ Association, Mr Folorunsho Daniyan, durring the 65th anniversary ceremony of the association in Lagos state said the textile industry in the 80s was the highest employer of labour in Nigeria after the federal civil service, with about 500,000 workers.
Mr Daniyan decried the state of the industry adding that the industry was barely surviving.
“The membership has shrunk from 175 textile industrial firms in 1985 to less than 20 textile industries in 2022” he says.
Mr. Daniyan said the number of jobs provided by the industry took a dive from 137,000 jobs in 1996 to 24,000 in 2008.
Mr. Daniyan said a fully revived textile industry was capable of creating millions of jobs and revenues while reducing the billions of dollars in import bills incurred annually on textiles and apparels.
According to the 2021 Nigerian Bureau of Statistics trade report, textile materials were the most imported in the country, accounting for over 95 percent of the market share in Nigeria.
“The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has not effectively combated smuggling such that cheap smuggled textile products largely from China and other Asian countries continue to dominate the local market with little or no access to locally produced textiles,” Mr. Daniyan notes.
“We therefore call on the NCS to adopt new creative measures that must include consistent raid of warehouses of smugglers in Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Onitsha and other cities of the federation.
“We also demand the establishment of a presidential task force made up of relevant stakeholders, including the textile manufacturers and union with the power to confiscate goods smuggled into the country,” he added.
The Director General of the Nigerian of Textile Manufacturers’ Association, Mr. Hamma Kwajaffa, said government needs to provide an enabling environment for the revival of the textile industry.
He said the challenges confronting the textile industry included high-cost of production, lack of competition, smuggling and counterfeiting of Made-in-Nigeria textiles, among others.
He said if these issues were taking seriously, the textile industry would help to boost the country’s GDP.
Mr. Kwajaffa also called on the government to implement and launch Made in Nigeria, where workers must wear Made in Nigeria products twice a week.
“I must commend the governor of Anambra state, Professor Chukwuma Soludo for embracing and wearing Nigerian made fabric. I urge other governmnent officials to do the same” Kwajaffa said.