A committee, led by Finance Minister Nenadi Usman, has been set up by Nigerian government to suggest ways of raking up N50 billion to revive the textile industry.

Fund will be raised in order to revive the sick textile industry by providing loans at simple rates to the operators.

Before its downfall, textile industry boasted of more than 200 units providing direct employment to 500,000 people and 1.5 million indirect jobs.

Today, however, it gives employment to around 40,000 workers with mere 25 textile factories that operate with only 45 percent of their total production capacity.

This has rendered people jobless and without any proper source of income.

This cycle in the penultimate stage has adversely affected the Nigerian economy, making it tough to revive.

At one point of time, textile industry generated maximum jobs behind government and construction activities.

Decline in this sector has been attributed to the globalisation process which is highly misleading.

Long before globalisation, introduction of hostile textile importation policies especially Structural Adjustment Programme of mid 1980s proved fatal for the industry.

Cheap import of textiles from other countries made the production cost cheaper destroying the local industry.

It resulted in shutting down of more than 100 textiles units from1985 to 1995.

Closures of the units created decline in demands for the raw materials which ruined the farmers producing cotton forcing them to move away to other options.

As a result the industry has taken a dive and a mere financial help would not prove enough for the revival of this industry.

Policy needs to be changed first to curb the unlimited volume of import and secondly proper implementation of the rehabilitation package must be insured by proper monitoring.
A committee, led by Finance Minister Nenadi Usman, has been set up by Nigerian government to suggest ways of raking up N50 billion to revive the textile industry.

Fund will be raised in order to revive the sick textile industry by providing loans at simple rates to the operators.

Before its downfall, textile industry boasted of more than 200 units providing direct employment to 500,000 people and 1.5 million indirect jobs.

Today, however, it gives employment to around 40,000 workers with mere 25 textile factories that operate with only 45 percent of their total production capacity.

This has rendered people jobless and without any proper source of income.

This cycle in the penultimate stage has adversely affected the Nigerian economy, making it tough to revive.

At one point of time, textile industry generated maximum jobs behind government and construction activities.

Decline in this sector has been attributed to the globalisation process which is highly misleading.

Long before globalisation, introduction of hostile textile importation policies especially Structural Adjustment Programme of mid 1980s proved fatal for the industry.

Cheap import of textiles from other countries made the production cost cheaper destroying the local industry.

It resulted in shutting down of more than 100 textiles units from1985 to 1995.

Closures of the units created decline in demands for the raw materials which ruined the farmers producing cotton forcing them to move away to other options.

As a result the industry has taken a dive and a mere financial help would not prove enough for the revival of this industry.

Policy needs to be changed first to curb the unlimited volume of import and secondly proper implementation of the rehabilitation package must be insured by proper monitoring.