The Nigerian presidency has constituted a special committee to resuscitate the country’s ailing cotton and textile industry, according to a report. This is in line with the campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari to revive cotton and textile industry in that country.
Permanent secretary of the agriculture and rural development ministry, Sonny Echono, who announced this while inaugurating the committee in Abuja, lamented that cotton, textile and garments industries across the country have become “shadows of themselves” due to influx of cheap textile materials, inconsistent government policies and dumping of sub-standard textile materials in the country.
He said that the textile and garments industry in Nigeria which once had over 400,000 employees now reduced to 30,000 due to the deplorable state of the industry. However, Echono is optimistic that the Nigerian textile industry has the potential to compete with the best in the world. He said the government was irrevocably committed to ensuring substantial growth in high quality cotton production to feed textile and garment industry, and bring back a thriving textile and garments industry.
