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Remarks By CBN Governor At The Meeting With Service Chiefs Towards Reviving The Textile Industry

Trade Investment	1548 VIEWS
Trade Investment
1548 VIEWS

Friday, July 12 2019 01:08PM / CBN

Being Remarks By CBN Governor At The Meeting With Service Chiefs Towards Reviving The Textile Industry Through Enforcement Of Executive Order 003 In Support of Local Content In Procurement By MDAs

1.(Protocols)

2.I am most delighted to welcome you all to the Central Bank of Nigeria for this epoch making meeting on Reviving the Nigerian Textile Industry through enforcement of Executive Order 003 on Support of Local Content in Procurement By MDAs.

3.First and foremost, permit me to commence this address by expressing our profound gratitude to all of you here for honouring our invitation despite your very busy schedules to attend this meeting. This is a strong indication of your commitment to 3 collaborate with us towards driving the economic policies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

4.Distinguished Service Chiefs, Chief Executives of Uniformed Services, in pursuance of the current administration’s drive towards economic diversification and creating jobs for our teeming population with emphasis on agricultural revolution, the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sector has been identified as critical.

5.This is because the Nigerian CTG sector holds huge potentials. Specifically, the sector has the capacity to transform Nigeria’s rural economy and revive the textile and garment industries by creating over 2 million jobs, improve internal revenue across three tiers of government, reduce $4.0billion import bill incurred annually on textile and apparel, safeguard and earn foreign 4 exchange and ultimately accelerate industrial development by making Nigeria a global player in the textile and apparel sectors.

6.This event therefore symbolizes our commitment to attain self-sufficiency in cotton production with a view to serving the Textile and Garment segments of the value chain with quality inputs as we target zero importation by the year 2020.

7.I am pleased to inform you that I have been holding meetings with the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Sector stakeholders toward reviving Nigeria’s textile sector. We analysed the huge potentials that exist in the sector, identified the challenges militating against the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s growth and development and presented quick wins for reviving the sector.

8.The CTG sector is however faced with some systemic challenges which has hampered and diminished its role as the leading employer of labour thereby preventing its contribution to Nigeria’s GDP.#

9.In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Nigeria was home to Africa’s largest textile industry, with over 180 textile mills in operations, which employed close to over 450,000 people and contributing over 25% of the workforce in the manufacturing sector. Today, most of the factories have all stopped operations, as only 25 textile factories are operating today at below 20 percent of their production capacities, and the workforce in Nigeria’s textile industry stands at less than 20,000 people.

10. Distinguished Service Chiefs, Chief Executives of Uniformed Services, gathered here 6 today are worthy Nigerians that have what it takes to change the narrative and rewrite the history of Nigeria’s struggling CTG Sector. Crucial to this resolve is the call for patriotism and the need to support local manufacturers of textile through patronage by MDAs as entrenched in Executive Order 003. Mr President has directed full compliance with this Order as it will help in addressing the pressure on our foreign reserves through demands for forex for the importation of textile and clothing materials. Our interactions with Stakeholders revealed that MDAs have not made any significant order for uniforms or clothing materials from our Nigerian textile manufacturers and garment companies and the Governments’ efforts at resuscitating the textile industry will not be actualized if they are not supported through local patronage among other incentives.

11. As a first step, we flagged-off the 2019 Wet Season Cotton Input Distribution to 150,000 farmers in Katsina, Katsina State on May 6th , 2019 under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. These are cultivating over 180,000 hectares of cotton that will feed our ginneries and be used in the production of high quality textile for use by the armed forces and other uniformed service organizations. Production is also ongoing across 23 States of Nigeria with more to come onboard in the next planting season. We have also put in place necessary mechanisms to ensure use of high yielding varieties that will produce top quality fabrics and those that can compete in the international market.

12. We have also observed that our textile factories are carrying huge quantities of unsold 8 stock while our garment factories are idle due to lack of local patronage. We are optimistic that with your support, this trend can be reversed. We have the mandate of Mr President to ensure that all uniformed services and theatre wears in hospitals and medical facilities be sourced locally from the Nigerian CTG sector. Already the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has been notified to enforce compliance among MDAs.

13. Our model in achieving this presidential directive is to facilitate long term contracts (5 years or more) with our textile and garment factories to produce uniforms for our armed forces and uniform services using local fabrics and textile materials.

14. We are not naive of the fact that the nature of your jobs will warrant special quality and security around the production of your wares. My team will work with your nominees toward ensuring 9 requisite quality and security associated with your uniforms. Your nominees will also join our team to inspect the various textiles and garment factories to ensure their readiness to be engaged on long term contracts to forestall breaches. We shall work out payment terms that fit budget releases for uniforms for various organisations.

15. You will agree with me that if this is actualized with your help and cooperation, it will impact positively on the garment industry and the Nigerian economy at large.

16. We shall at the end of this meeting go to the ground floor to inspect the mini exhibition mounted by select textile companies and garment factories. This I hope will enable you begin to take steps to actualize the dream of this meeting.

17. Distinguished Service Chiefs and Chief Executives of other Uniformed Services, I humbly seek your cooperation towards realization of this mandate. We cannot continue to dwell on the neglect of past years, the best time to correct those mistakes is now and every stakeholder must contribute their quota to guarantee the realization of these national targets. Our future is bright as a country but we must continue to take those little steps that will take us to our destination.

18. I thank you all for being part of this meeting and I pray for a healthy and lasting business relationships between our armed forces, uniformed services and Nigerian textile and garment factories.

19. I thank you for your attention and God bless Nigeria.

GODWIN I. EMEFIELE, CON

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria

11th July, 2019