Nigerian textile industry

Time to revive Nigerian textile industry

Nigeria’s textile industry blossomed in the 60s and 70s, following committed government interventionist schemes such as the ban on importation of textiles, which ultimately drove many investors into the sector.

At that time, Kaduna was referred to as the Textile City because it housed giant integrated mills and had the headquarters of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA). Then the state could actually boast of about 11 textile companies, including the Arewa Textile Plc, Fantext Nigeria Ltd, Notext Nigeria Ltd., Super text Ltd., United Nigeria Textile Ltd, providing employment and business opportunities to thousands of people.

However, the Kaduna Textile Limited (KTL), one of the oldest mills in the country, established in 1957, was shut down in 2002, with its over 7000 employees laid off, and its once admirable structure now a shadow of itself.

 Part of what made the Kaduna Textile Limited close shop was massive corruption on the part of the management of the company, poor power supply, smuggling of relatively cheap textile goods from foreign countries, capital depreciation, lack of access to long-term finance and competition from newer firms.

From available statistics, the dwindling of the textile industry actually started off in the 80s, as the industry began to struggle with high production costs, taxes/levies and poor infrastructure, worsening by 1997, when the ban on importation of textiles was lifted, against many outcries from industry players. Alas, many Nigerians began to patronize foreign textile materials, leading to a decline in sales, a fall in the number of workers employed in the industry, and ultimately to the shutdown of many local textile factories.

It was against this background that the government of Olusegun Obasanjo, recognizing the need to revive the textile sector, consequently imposed a temporary suspension on importation of printed textiles in 2004 to protect the local textile manufacturing firms from unhealthy competition with the foreign firms. Nevertheless, smuggling of cheap foreign textiles continued to trail the market.

Today, though there are local textile companies trying to raise their voice with various designs and fabrics in the Nigerian market, we cannot feign ignorance of the fact that there is still a wide gap that needs to be filled in the Nigerian textile industry. It is undeniable that the lost glory is yet to be restored. Presently, it is even hard to believe that the Nigerian textile industry once occupied an enviable spot of being the third largest in Africa in the 80s, generating as much as $2 billion annually and with a capacity of producing more than 1.4 billion different pieces of textile products, including African prints, shirting, bed sheets, furnishing fabrics, towels, embroidery lace, table and bed linen, guinea brocades, wax prints, java prints, jutes and fishing nets.

It is true that, in recent times, the Nigerian government has taken giant strides to turn around the fortunes of the sector, with the former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, introducing an Industrial Revolution Plan aimed at revamping and fast-tracking the growth and development of the cotton, textile and garment (CTG) sector, and addressing the various problems facing it.

Despite these steps, it is obvious that, at the moment, one of the most daunting challenges staring the sector on the face is the influx of foreign textiles into the country. With the lifting of the ban on textile importation in 2010, Nigeria now has almost 80% of its textiles imported from China, Indonesia, Taiwan and other countries. This trend is definitely not helping the Nigerian economy and needs to be stopped with an outright ban or some other measures. There is also the need to increasingly check the menace of smuggling, which is another monster derailing growth in the sector.

Above all, we need a well orchestrated campaign for the patronage of local Nigerian textiles, as opposed to the foreign ones. This campaign should be the business of both the government and those playing within the private business sector. This alone will widen the market and create more employment opportunities in the sector. But, for that to be achieved, Nigerian fabrics must offer competitive value in terms of variety and quality. What the government needs to understand is that, even if it increases the funding of the sector, as some players are calling for, the impact won’t be much felt if the issue of patronage is not squarely addressed. 

Nigeria’s textile industry blossomed in the 60s and 70s, following committed government interventionist schemes such as the ban on importation of textiles, which ultimately drove many investors into the sector. Read more: https://www.naij.com/1096734-nigerians-4th-highest-consumers-soft-drinks-globally.html

What would you describe as the current challenges facing the textile industry that you would want the in-coming government of General Muhammadu Buhari to look into? Read more: https://www.naij.com/1096838-senator-allegedly-operates-20-accounts-banks-different-signatories.html