Initiate steps to revive moribund textile mills, NTGTEA tells FG

The Nigeria Textile, Garment and Tailoring Employers Association (NTGTEA) has urged the Federal Government to initiate steps to revive moribund textile mills in Nigeria.
By 1985, Nigeria had over 180 textile mills employing more than one million Nigerians. Some of the mills were United Nigerian Textile Limited (UNTL), Aswani Textile, Afprint, Asaba Textile Mills, and Edo Textile Mills, among others, but there are fewer than three full-fledged healthy textile mills in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country today.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Hamma Kwajaffa, director-general of NTGTEA, said unbridled importation of cheaper but substandard textile products killed local firms, stating that 95 percent of the textile market in the country today is dominated by China.
Kwajaffa said the very few surviving textile firms are struggling and cannot compete with China and India, whose production costs in their home countries are much lower than Nigeria’s.
“Energy costs four cents per kilowatt in other African countries but 20 cents per kilowatt in Nigeria. So how can a struggling textile firm compete? We need government intervention to be able to compete,” he asked.
The textile industry in Nigeria is currently made up of fabrics makers, cotton producers, rug and carpet manufacturers as well as fashion and designers.
“We can produce military uniforms. We have bed sheets, blankets, towels and handkerchiefs. We can make good products, but there is a need for incentives for the industry,” he said.
In the first quarter of 2016, Aisha Abubakar, minister of state for industry, trade and investment, toured three textile firms, which include Lucky Fibres Nigeria Plc, Spintex Mills and Nichemtex Plc in Lagos and Ogun states, promising to draw government attention to the challenges in the industry. However, smuggling, high production cost, poor patronage and lack of quality control on imports, which are age-old problems in the industry, continue with little or minimal government response.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU