Hope for revival of textile industry

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele on Friday raised hopes for the revival of the nation’s textile industry when he disclosed, that the apex bank was planning a fresh bailout for the industry.
This he said is to revive the comatose subsector for it to become a major employer of labour.
He said the planned intervention fund would come in a single-digit interest rate and long-tenured loans to players in the sector particularly those in the cotton, textile and garment segments.
Emefiele who stated this at a CBN-initiated stakeholders meeting with players in the industry, said the objective of the meeting was to see how the CBN could revive the textile industry and place it on the path of sustainable growth for the country.
He said, “A sub-sector that once employed over one million hardworking Nigerians is now almost completely dominated by imports from Asia. We are all aware of the challenges that have beset and continue to plague the industry and I am under no illusion that this meeting will immediately resolve these issues.

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“The central bank under my leadership is prescribing to work with the industry to come up with holistic solutions for the long-term sustainable development of the sector. I can assure you that the bank is ready to provide funding under our Real Sector Support Facility for the industry.
“Mr. President is committed to the rejuvenation and revival of this sector and he is desirous of bringing this industry back to life.”
The CBN governor, however, stressed that the problems that had stunted the growth of the textile industry was far beyond funding.
As a way of solving some of the problems facing the sector, Emefiele said he had recently met with the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, as part of the efforts to tackle smuggling of textile goods.

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