Textile: Labour/Buhari partnership for revival

“I still recall with clarity that at some point, the textile industry in Nigeria was employing about 320,000 Nigerians. But today, the same industry employs less than 30,000 people and the factories operate below capacity or they are completely closed.  “I have made a promise to Nigerians that jobs will be created as part of […]

“I still recall with clarity that at some point, the textile industry in Nigeria was employing about 320,000 Nigerians. But today, the same industry employs less than 30,000 people and the factories operate below capacity or they are completely closed.
 “I have made a promise to Nigerians that jobs will be created as part of efforts to revive the economy and that promise will be fulfilled. We will move as fast as we can to resuscitate the textile and mining industries, and also improve production in our agricultural sector…..we cannot allow industries and factories to close down. Instead, we should be making every effort to ensure that we re-open the closed ones and attract new ones to reduce unemployment.”- President Buhari.

“Reviving the textiles is a significant campaign promise of General Buhari and he is committed to it. Besides, Buhari lives in Kaduna and knows the impact of the textile industry on the economy. Kaduna used to be Manchester of the textile industry. We have met at forum of northern governors-elect and we have decided to ensure the revival of the textile companies. It is disgraceful that the largest economy in Africa imports textile materials from Senegal and other countries,”- Mallam El-Rufai, Governor, Kaduna state.
Precisely because yours comradely is involved, I bear witness that the 27th/2015 annual national Education conference of the National union of Textile, Garment and tailoring workers and Textile Employers association takes off tomorrow Tuesday 25th in Kaduna at the National Teachers Institute (NTI) KM 6 Kaduna-Zaria Express Way Rigachikun, Kaduna. The conference theme is: BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION: REVIVAL OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION. His Excellency, President Muhammed Buhari is expected to declare the conference open as Special Guest of Honour. The host-Governors are Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Executive Governor of Kaduna State and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, mni of Edo State. The conference brings together all stakeholders notably hundreds of  organized labour/participants drawn from the remaining textile mills in Nigeria as well as self-employed tailor-union members in the informal sector to discuss the ways and means to help the current administration fulfill its electoral promise of reviving the textile industry and creation of jobs within the shortest possible period. Chief Executives,fraternal groups and captains of Industry are expected at the opening session. This year’s Education Conference assumes a special importance. The Conference holds against the historic background of the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as the 4th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the current democratic dispensation. The theme is inspired by the fact that President Buhari has commendably made revival of the Textile Industry in the country a cardinal point of the current administration’s efforts to reindustrialize Nigeria and provide employment for millions of unemployed youths.
Textile industry in the 70s and 80s employed as many as 2 million direct and indirect workers mostly drawn from Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Funtua, Jos, Guzau, Port Harcourt, Asaba and Aba among other places where the industries were located. The main objective of the 27th Annual Residential Conference is to critically examine all the possible immediate implementation strategies for the revival of textile industry as desired by the current administration. The strengths of the sector, (once a second employer of workforce) has been well documented. First is the raw material endowment. Nigeria has a large cotton base as the commodity is grown in 26 out of the 36 states in the country. The long staple lengths are predominant in the southern part while the short staple lengths are predominant in the northern parts of the country. Importantly too, being  a major oil producing nation, the country also has a large polyester base. Second is the Nigeria’s large Market Size. With a fashion- conscious population of about 170 million people approximately 1.2 billion metres of Cloth is required per annum based on an average of about 6 metres per capita. This market is an enough incentive to reopen (note; not build anew!) as many as 120 textile plants scandalously under lock through the country’s industrial landscape. When the population of the ECOWAS sub-region estimated at about 300 million People is factored in, this translates to about 2 billion metres of cloth per annum based on the per capita average used above. Thirdly Nigeria harbours abundant  Labour market; some estimated over 69 million robust human resources trainable on-the-job. Fourthly, there is a renewed good political will and Conducive business environment as evidenced with the above quotable quotes of notable state actors including President Buhari. However the point cannot be overstated that the industry has never been short of policy concerns and initiatives in the recent past. What with 100billion intervention fund disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI)?. What with much promised dedicated electricity for the industry clusters? But the threats to the industry persist. Indeed the industry closures continue. The problems include wholesale criminal smuggling, Lack of competitiveness due to infrastructural deficits, high cost of energy generation, high cost of bank borrowing which has led to lack of modernization or inability to expand their processing capacities and lack of patronage for locally produced goods. The good news however is that Nigeria has the potential to be the leader in the Cotton, Textile and garment in the continent and in the top ten globally when the above threat-factors are tamed and controlled. This conference must make a difference. Textile is a strategic non-oil industry that can contribute significantly to the nation’s GDP and exports and ensure decent jobs.the Cotton, Textile and Garment, the CTG sub-sector has the potential to be a major revenue earner for government. In the light of falling oil prices, this sub-sector, with most of its inputs available locally, if well harnessed can be strategically placed to be a major revenue earner for the nation.