Abuja – The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says patronage of made in Nigeria products by Nigerians will revive the cotton, textile and garment industries.
Osinbajo said this on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during a meeting with industry stakeholders and members of the Implementation Committee on the National Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Policy.
It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to rejuvenate the cotton and textile industry within two years in the life of his administration.
“Nigerians buying Nigerian products is very important and it goes beyond the symbolism of wearing Nigerian-made dresses.
“It is important for our economy and well-being,” the vice president declared.
Members of the committee composed of both government officials and industry stakeholders had earlier highlighted a number of strategies for the revival of the sector.
The strategies include the promotion of Nigerian-made dresses, among others.
Specifically, the committee proposed a “Wear Naija Day,” where public officials and employees of corporate organisations would all wear locally-made fabric.
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had articulated a new policy to revamp the industries through a number of interventions.
Some proposed interventions were battling smuggling in order to attain a 15 per cent reduction by 2017, facilitating assess to funding for the sector and addressing the challenges of energy.
The rest were lifting the ban on importation of finished products and using the duties and levies raised therefrom to support the industries, among several other strategies.
Osinbajo noted that smuggling of foreign textile materials into the country had to be tackled, adding that overall “it is up to all of us to see that this particular initiative works, we have talked enough”.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Aisha Abubakar, noted that the ministry had come up with the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) policy.
She said it was in order to provide “a suit of interventions holistically across the value chain.
“Including encouraging local patronage, controlling smuggling, production of improved seedling, cost of energy, cost of funds, training and upgrading and modernisation of infrastructure.”
She added that past attempts to revive the industries failed because they had addressed only the issue of funding.
Mr Issa Aremu, the General Secretary of the National Union of Garment and Textile Workers of Nigeria, commended the Buhari presidency for “walking the talk”.
Aremu recalled that the APC presidential ticket had promised to revamp the industry during the electioneering campaigns in 2015.
