Nigeria: Let the Textiles Roll Again
AllAfrica.com, Washingto
Lagos
If the Federal Government is really serious about its programme of massive job creation, the textile Industry revival is one key area it ought to focus its attention. A one time biggest employer of labour has remained largely comatose due to adverse macro economic policies of the past successive administrations.
The industry’s unfortunate descent into its present despicable state actually originated from the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) era of the 1980s when local manufacturers suddenly became defenceless against the influx of goods arising from unfavourable foreign exchange rate regime. Available statistics on the current situation is indeed worrisome. At 30 per cent, the capacity utilisation of textile factories is ridiculously low. And from 137,000 in 1996, direct employment in the industry has reduced drastically to 25,000. Redundancies and rampant plant closures across the country have also resulted in the loss of more than half a million jobs since then.
The National Education Conference of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) and the Nigeria Textile, Garment and Tailoring Employers Association held in Jos the other day put the dilemma of this critical industry succinctly : “Industrial development cannot be achieved in an environment where interest rate is very high… Nigeria needs to learn from industrial economies like Korea and Malaysia where interest rate is below five per cent and particularly Japan that sets a zero per cent interest rate on loans for purchase of industrial machineries… Vision 2020 which seeks to make Nigeria one of the strongest 20 economies in the world by 2020 cannot be achieved if in 2014, just 13 years to the date, industries particularly labour-intensive industries like textiles are closing down on account of poor state of infrastructure, inconsistent and ineffective policies.”
We completely agree with the textile factory owners and workers. Poor electricity supply has not also helped matters. It only made the production cost more expensive.
Sadly also, the cost of the main energy supply for production in the industry – Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO)- has also become prohibitive. And to compound this sectoral jeopardy, the efforts of the Customs Service to tackle the smuggling of textile materials have not yielded the desired results. Consequently, at the moment, domestic manufacturing accounts for only 20 per cent of textile products in the country. But no self-respecting nation that wants to achieve self sufficiency must allow this obvious rape to go on unchecked. Apart from the gains that would accrue to the country if the textile industry is revamped, the fact that other West African countries like Ghana and Cote D’ Ivoire with relatively smaller economies maintain thriving textile production and marketing and dumping them in Nigeria, should propel the federal government to act fast to restore the lost glory.
Interestingly, the present administration has begun to galvanise the N70 billion Textile Revival Fund which the last administration publicised so much but failed to actualise. Now, the relevant authorities should ensure that the facilitating local banks provide access to reduced interest credit for indigenous textile producers without further delays. If a proper monitoring apparatus is not instituted soon, the move to inject life into textile industries will end in the ditch, like many other noble but ill-implemented policies and programmes of the past.
In the final analysis, the government needs to be mindful of the positive collateral effect a vibrant textile sector would have on the production of cotton- a major cash crop in the pre-independence and First Republic periods of our history. It should, therefore, resist attempts by some foreign textile companies to make Nigeria a mere dumping market as that would further undermine local endeavours. Instead, such firms should be encouraged to establish factories here. That would boost the country’s employment capacity, internal competitiveness and the drive for quality. The quest for a healthy textile industry presents the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration a chance to showcase its readiness to enlist Nigeria among the comity of truly productive nations.
