Despite efforts by the federal government to revive Nigeria’s once thriving textile industry over the past decade, the local industry continues to suffer dwindling fortunes, as 115 firms have shut down over the past 26 years and counting.
Nigeria’s textile industry was a vital and vibrant part of the Nigerian economy in the 1980s and early 1990s, and a major employer of labour, second only to the government, contributing to the nation’s GDP and foreign exchange earnings of the country at the time.
Consequently, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA) revealed that over 117,000 jobs in the nation’s textile industry have been lost in the past 26 years. According to the association, the textile sector could lose more jobs if the federal government does not intervene urgently to salvage the ailing industry.
NTMA president, Mr. Folorunsho Daniyan, at a recent press briefing on the state of the textile industry in Nigeria and its lack of competitive edge, noted that the industry used to be the highest employer of labour, apart from the federal government in the 1980s. At its peak, the textile industry absorbed more than 500,000 workers.
He added that its membership had shrunk from 175 firms in 1985 to less than 20 in 2022.
“Employment-wise, the number of jobs provided by the industry took a dive from 137,000 jobs in 1996 to 24,000 jobs in 2008. Today the number of jobs provided in the industry is less than 20,000 jobs,” explained Daniyan.
The NTMA president also stated that Nigerian textiles used to be exported to West and Central Africa but suffered a setback between 2003 and 2008.
“Textile exports reached their lowest ebb in 2006. However, it recovered some lost ground in 2007 and 2008. Today, the situation is even worse as our exportability is next to zero,” he added.
Highlighting the major factors responsible for the industry’s declining export capacity, Daniyan narrowed them down to the loss of preferential market access in the EU and US, inconsistent implementation of Export Expansion Grant policy, particularly a perennial backlog of EEG claims, and the inconsistencies in the implementation of ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme.
However, the NTMA boss said the promised benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) would elude Nigeria if the illegal imports of textile fabrics and other products Nigeria can produce locally continue to find their way into its markets unchecked.
“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 and recall that a similar task force existed during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,” explained Daniyan.
“However, the NTMA, along with our labour union, wishes to acknowledge some measures by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Bank of Industry (BOI) aimed at the textile industry revival and called for urgent stakeholders meeting that must include the union to objectively review some of these measures to ascertain the level of success as well as the challenges,”he added.
The NTMA boss said the lack of patronage, despite Executive Order 003 on the patronage of locally-produced goods, also hindered the growth of the textile industry. He called on relevant government agencies to comply with the executive order by patronising locally-made textiles to avert further factory closures and job losses.
“We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure holistic implementation of the Cotton Textile Garment (CTG) policy. The textile industry remains a critical plank for addressing the current high level of unemployment and attendant security challenges in the country,” Daniyan said.
He noted that a fully revived textile industry would create millions of jobs and address insecurity, improve internally generated revenue, reduce billions of dollars in import bills incurred annually on textile and apparel, and ensure foreign exchange earnings.
“We also urge the state governments to complement the federal government’s efforts through complimentary bold industrial policies that will revive closed factories in their localities such as the provision of infrastructure, granting of genuine tax incentives, and patronage of made-in-Nigeria products,” he added.
Also speaking, Textile Union president, John Adaji, said the union had lost about 3,000 members in the past 12 months. According to him, as of 2008, it had about 24,000 members, which had shrunk to 13,000 in 2020.
He lamented the sector’s inability to compete favourably at the international level due to inadequate infrastructure, pointing out that the N100 billion textile fund by the federal government in 2019 to salvage the ailing textile sector was difficult to access.
“We are appealing to the conscience of Mr. President to come to our rescue because we are losing our patience, and our next level of action would be to storm Abuja,” Adaji warned.
Also, former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, said if properly repositioned, the CTG value chain would be a potential ‘gold mine’ for the country.
Oshiomhole, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, spoke on the topic: “Repositioning the CTG Sector as the engine of growth for the Nigerian Economy.”
Oshiomhole said the sector, if revitalised, could attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for massive industrialisation of the country.
According to him, the CTG Value Chain has been a vital and vibrant part of the Nigerian Economy in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He added that the sector was a major employer of labour, second only to the government that contributed to the nation’s GDP and the foreign exchange earnings of the country at that time.
He said that due to some number of factors, the whole sector was currently in a state of near-total collapse, which required urgent attention.
A major stakeholder in the CTG industry, Mr. Paul Paul Sunday Achimugu, however said, “To revitalise and reposition the Nigerian CTG sector, the following important decisions and actions must be taken and followed through by government and the CTG stakeholders.
“Government must provide special tariff power; that is, gas and other energy sources for the CTG sector.
“There must be re-tooling for obsolete machinery, more aggressive and tighter control at the Nigerian borders to reduce the smuggling and influx of second-hand clothing, engagement with China at governmental level, special treatment for the CTG sector in terms of tax, finance and so on.
He added that there must be the establishment of clusters like industrial parks with shared facilities, convene another high level stakeholders’ CTG summit, among others.
Former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said there must be sincerity and strong political will by the government to revive the sector.
“No industry will survive let alone flourish without the government putting the right policies and support infrastructure in place.
“Supporting the production of cotton, that is, cotton farming and liberalising the import of modern textile machinery is the second step,” he said.
Kwankwaso added that a multi-faceted action plan, including reducing the cost of power and energy, cutting bureaucratic bottlenecks, providing critical and strategic infrastructure to support industry growth, among others.
On his part, Dr Anibe Achimugu, Chairman of the foundation, said that all hands must be on deck to revive the CTG sector in the country.
“Before late 90s, cotton was grown in abundance in Nigeria and cotton Lents sold to the textile industries to produce garments that flooded our markets and those of African countries.
“The CTG sector then was the second largest employer of labour after the Federal Government. However, this same cannot be told about the CTG sector today,” he said.
He added that for industrialisation and rapid employment to be achieved, deliberate efforts must be made to revive the sector.
