The Federal Authorities has raised issues over Nigeria’s heavy reliance on textile imports, revealing that the nation spends roughly $6 billion yearly on international textiles.
This dependency has severely impacted the native textile trade, resulting in job losses and stifling {economic} progress.
Minister of State for Trade, Commerce, and Funding, Sen. John Enoh, made this revelation throughout his go to to Sunflag Nigeria Ltd. in Lagos as a part of a three-day industrial tour.
He reiterated the federal government’s dedication to reviving the textile sector, enhancing its worth chain, and selling made-in-Nigeria items to scale back import dependency.
Sen. Enoh famous that many years in the past, Nigeria’s textile trade was a major employer, rivalling the federal government in job creation. Nevertheless, attributable to a number of challenges, together with smuggling, lack of infrastructure, and unfavorable insurance policies, the sector has considerably declined.
“You’d be shocked to know that we import $6 billion yearly of textiles into Nigeria, and Nigeria customers by doing that, make use of 750,000 Chinese language and Indian employees of their international locations to dress ourselves,” he mentioned.
He identified that neighbouring Benin Republic has a thriving textile trade primarily concentrating on Nigerian customers, additional exacerbating the nation’s reliance on international textiles.
Alok Bhardwaj, Managing Director of Sunflag Nigeria Ltd., highlighted the staggering stage of textile imports into Nigeria, revealing that the nation spends an estimated $6 billion yearly on imported textiles.
“You’d be shocked to know that by importing textiles, Nigerian customers are not directly using 750,000 employees in China and India, whereas our native trade struggles to outlive,” Bhardwaj mentioned.
He famous that the Nigerian textile trade, which as soon as employed 250,000 employees throughout over 250 firms between 1985 and 1990, has now dwindled to fewer than 10,000 workers. This sharp decline has had a ripple impact throughout the complete worth chain, from cotton farming to garment manufacturing.
Bhardwaj additionally recognized the inflow of smuggled second-hand clothes as a serious menace to Nigeria’s textile trade.
He famous that this apply negatively impacts native tailors and textile producers, with an estimated 1.5 million Nigerian tailors affected by the uncontrolled importation of used clothes.
“The employment of our folks has a multiplying impact on the economic system,” he acknowledged. “For Nigeria to attain its industrial progress targets, we should prioritize native manufacturing and create a stage enjoying discipline for Nigerian producers.”
“My go to right here is to guarantee you that this authorities is dedicated to altering the state of affairs,” Enoh mentioned. “We’ll work in direction of selling made-in-Nigeria items and companies to make sure sustainable industrial growth.”
The minister assured stakeholders that the Tinubu administration is decided to remodel the textile trade by implementing insurance policies that encourage native manufacturing, curb smuggling, and appeal to funding into the sector.
