The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed on Friday that it is working out modalities to provide funding under the Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) for the revitalisation of the ailing Cotton Textile and Garment (CTG) industry.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who made this known during a meeting with CTG industry stakeholders in Lagos, hinted that the apex bank will partner with stakeholders in the textile sector to develop a blueprint on the development of the industry.
He lamented that the industry that previously had over 150 textile mills and employed over one million people is dominated by imports from Asia.
He noted that the industry was suffering from huge capital flight as a result of the huge importation worth millions of dollars of textile products into the country.
“India alone was estimated to export textile products worth over $140 million into Nigeria, while imports from China, Indonesia and Taiwan are more likely to be even much higher. The challenge for us as stakeholders is how to prevent further dumping of the product into the country with the implementation of the Common External Tariff,” Emefiele said.
The CBN boss explained that the relationship between banks and the textile companies was thorny because the former was suddenly left with huge non-performing loans after the bubble burst.
He said though CBN has no mandate to ban the importation of any product, it recently included textiles as one of the 41 items excluded from foreign exchange sales from the Nigerian forex market.
On smuggling, he noted that CBN and the textile stakeholders would continue to work with relevant government agencies such as the Nigerian Customs Service and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to combat the menace and ensure that importers pay the right duties for products.
On the challenges facing the industry, the Chairman of Textile Industry, Mrs. Grace Adereti, lamented that the industry which created over 18 million employment with over 150 vibrant mills in the past, could only boost of no fewer than 20 textile firms, that are managing to stay afloat.
She said the industry was in coma because 95 per cent of textile products were imports as 150 containers of textile materials are smuggled into the country in one night on daily basis, even when the country has can produce 1.5 billion metres of cotton.
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