• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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CBN targets revival of 20 textile companies before 2019 end

Ankara

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is targeting to revive at least 20 textile companies before the end of the year as it inaugurated a Textile Revival Implementation Committee on Thursday in Abuja. 

The committee would ensure the resuscitation of at least 50 textile firms by the end of 2023; collaborate with stakeholders to identify, name and shame textile smugglers in Nigeria as well as develop a framework for eradication of smuggling and dumping of textile products into Nigeria.

It would also facilitate the production of 200,000 hectares of cotton fields by 2020 and maintain an annual increase of 100,000 hectares over the next three years.

The committee was inaugurated by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and had Governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje, as well as the Deputy Governors of Kaduna and Jigawa State among other stakeholders in the CTG sector in attendance.

Speaking at the event, Emefiele said the CTG sector within the last 20 years had suffered a lot of difficulties and listed the challenges confronting the sector   to include low cotton production, poor power and transport infrastructure, obsolete production lines, smuggling and counterfeiting, inadequate local patronage, high cost of production, and multiple taxation among others. 

For instance, he said the value of textiles  smuggled into the country has been estimated at over $2.2bn. 

The new committee is therefore also expected that the committee would work assiduously to deliver a minimum of 50 megawatts of captive power to CTG firms in the interested states by 2021, and facilitate the effective pricing and delivery of gas, black oil and diesel to CTG firms in Lagos and other interested states.

This is hoped would enhance their power generation and consumption.

According to Emefiele, “It’s no secret that the past 20 years have been very difficult for the cotton, textiles and garment sector. 

“Today, most of the textile factories have all stopped operations and the workforce in Nigeria’s textile industry stands at less than 20,000 people. 

“In addition, a large proportion of our clothing materials are imported from China and countries in Europe. 

“Our consultations with key stakeholders in the CTG sub-sector necessitated the constitution of this Textile Revival Implementation Committee as a pre-requisite to fixing the identified challenges in the CTG sub-sector. 

“A consolidated approach of this magnitude will afford us economies of scale, synergy in resource utilization and provide a holistic solution to harnessing the potentials of the CTG sub-sector in Nigeria.”

The CBN had already taken the initial steps to revive the sector with the flag-off of input distribution to 100,000 cotton farmers, as well as cultivating 100,000 hectares in 23 states of the federation. 

Emefiele raised optimism that the bank would resuscitate the cotton belts nationwide and grow the value chain till the last mile of textile production. 

“We will need to set timelines for these deliverables and charge the technical committees to develop road maps that must be achieved within the set timelines,” he added.

Commenting, the governor of Kano State commended the strategy adopted by the apex bank, which according to him would help revive the comatose sector.

But to effectively achieve set objectives of the committee, he observed the need to have strong institutions that would implement some of its recommendations.

According to him, there is also the  need to have strong fiscal and monetary policies to bring about the needed incentives and funding for the sector.

 

Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja