By Timothy Precious.
Nigeria’s textile industry is now gasping for breath following the failure of revival measures, a sustained upsurge in the importation of textile products, and a series of adverse monetary policy regimes.
As of 2023, Senator Walid Jibrin, the former Chairman of the Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, expressed concern over the decline of Nigeria’s textile industry, revealing that there are currently only 20 operational textile factories in the country.
Financial Vanguard revealed that only about five textile mills are still operational today, while the cotton production value chain has vanished. The labour force has also suffered a loss, being reduced to fewer than 2,000 workers, both direct and indirect.
Industry stakeholders have attributed the collapse to challenges including the high rate of smuggling and importation, little or no power supply to the industry, which is very power-intensive, inconsistent government policies on tariffs, insecurity across cotton production regions, foreign exchange crises, and the high cost of funding, which makes the products subpar compared to huge imports.
As part of the revival measures taken by the government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has implemented various intervention procedures, including financial support, training initiatives, and foreign exchange restrictions on textile imports at the official exchange market. However, these measures have not yielded the required boost in the industry.