Challenges, prospects of resuscitating comatose textile industry, by stakeholders
By Babatola Adeyemi
INITIALLY, a palpable sense of hopelessness was pervasive among most of the sector operators who participated in the maiden yearly internationally conference on Nigerian's textile industry held recently in Lagos.
And this is understandable: the second largest textile industry in sub-Sharan African is now a shadow of itself with an average of one textile firm closing shop in two months in the past two decades.
But even before the end of the first day of the conference, participants' mood simply changed to renewed hopes.
Some of them said that they wished that the minister of state for commerce and Industry, Mr. Humphrey Abah, had stayed much longer that day, just as some decried the absence of key government officials, especially the managing Director of Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms Evelyn Oputu, who was said to be indisposed.
Abah, who represented President Umaru Yar'Adua at the conference left about an hour after delivering the president's speech.
A sector operator who spoke on the condition of anonymity seemed to speak the mind of others. According to him: "Honestly, many of us just came here without much expectation. We just wanted to come and listen to the usual rhetorics, especially since one would not feel at ease missing such a well-publicised event. But, with what has transpired here since yesterday, the quality of resource persons and the sincerity of discussions and the passion manifested by many, I join others to commend the organisers of this conference for providing this unique opportunity. One only prays that government and others stakeholders would ensure that the communiquŽ arising from this conference will not end up the way of several others before it."
Indeed, the Managing Director of Banquaires facilities Limited, Mr. Felix Adeduro, whose firm organised the event, set the tone of optimism for the conference in his welcome address.
First, he acknowledged and lamented the deterioration of the textile sector. According to him: "By the close of the 1980s, the subsector had about 124 textile firms in full operation largely meeting the clothing demand of Nigeria's ever increasing population and even the demand from outside the country, with little or no competition from other West Africa producers, such as Ghana, Benin Republic, Senegal and Gambia. As at mid to late 80s, the industry generated massive direct and indirect employment opportunities to Nigerians and created corollary support to hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who traded in products from the industry.
Today, the country has less than 20 textile companies in full time operation - meeting less than 10 per cent of the country's textile requirements.
Others have closed down as a result of multi-dimensional challenges, which have to do with power crisis, incessant labour unrest, non-availability of cheap loans and working capital, obsolete equipment, inadequacy of skilled human resources, unbridled importation of textile materials and lack of textile industrial policy."
He however, emphasised: President Yar'Adua and his commerce and Industry ministers, including former minister Charles Ugwu, have demonstrated their willingness and readiness to revamp the textile sector. And we are proud to champion this worthy cause. That is why, we have invited here distinguished International and local experts to address the challenges and proffer the way forward for our textile sector. How to tackle the problem of infrastructure, especially power supply, how to address the problems of funding, smuggling and a host of others will all be provided at this forum so that you will all go back after this conference happy and hopeful."
Yar'Adua lent credence to Adeduro's assurance when he disclosed that the N100 billion Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Scheme would soon be launched.
"This is evidently the most comprehensive and realistic initiative at reviving a sector that once was the second highest employer of labour in Nigeria after government" the president said.
He added: "Our optimism that this initiative will meet with success is partly predicated on our research findings and study tours of other countries that have continued to reap huge income and developmental impact from their textile and garment industries. It is instructive that some of these countries do not even grow cotton and are not as well endowed as Nigeria in many respects."
The President stated further that a fundamental feature of the scheme was that it covered the entire cotton and garment production value chain, including garmenting, which, he noted, had hitherto not been accorded attention in the past and yet is the most lucrative segment of the value chain.
According to him: "For the first time, we have evolved a bold scheme that addresses all the challenges facing the industry, including those that are environmentally induced, such as infrastructural inadequacies, smuggling, dumping and counterfeiting.
The challenge, the president implied, remained how to ensure a successful implementation of the scheme. This, he said, was because its successful implementation, would not only increase the country's yearly share of the domestic market to over N300 billion, but would also enable local firms to earn foreign exchange through export.
"Given these projections, it is evident that the future of Nigeria's textile industry remains very bright, despite the adversities of recent years," Yar'Adua assured.
Other speakers who also charted the path to the textile sector's revival included the chairman of Bombay Textile Research Association, Mumbai, India, Professor Shri Prem Malik, a visiting Professor to several Colleges and Universities in the United States of America, Professor Walter Vieira and Sub-Saharan representative of Gherzi Textile organisation and consultant to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Mr N. Sodhi.
There were also papers and contributions from Professor Tayo Fakiyesi, Head, Economics Department, University of Lagos, representative of the African Textile Federation (ACTIF), Mr Hong O' Kongo, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Bashir Borodo, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), Mr. Jaiyeola Olanrewaju and the General Secretary, National Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Nigeria, Mr. Issa Aremu among others.
In his presentation on "Textile Industry re-engineering and Administration," Malik was both academic and practical.
The Don, who urged the Federal Government to create a vision for the textile and cotton subsectors for the next 10 years, also appealed for urgent solution to the problems of infrastructure, raw material for textile firms, funding, Human resources and unfavourable policy initiatives.
Specifically, he stressed the urgency of ensuring significant improvement in power supply, to save manufacturers the huge cost on generators, even as he canvassed the use of solar energy and wind.
Malik also urged government to encourage cotton growing and to fix what he referred to as minimum support price, to induce farmers.
He however cautioned against the high level of contamination of local cotton which, he noted, had remained unchanged.
"The presence of polypropylene fibres in cotton is a major quality problem faced by the spinning mills," he emphasised.
On funding, he noted that non-availability of long-term funds discourages re-tooling of plant and machinery, just as currency devaluation discourages borrowing in overseas market. He urged the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to tackle both, just as he canvassed Nigeria's negotiation with the European Union countries for duty free export of Textile and Cotton to them.
"Additionally, the Nigerian government should encourage those Asian countries like Korea, China, Malaysia etc from which textile products are smuggled into Nigeria to invest in the country rather than see the giant of African as a dumping ground."Malik emphasized.
Vieira stressed the imperative of political will by government and passion by all stakeholders in repositioning Nigeria's textile industry.
According to him: "Nigeria has waited too long. Opportunities do not wait for strategies and strategists. They must be grabbed. We must all want to succeed. And passion is required. The time is now, to change direction."
