FG Partners BoI to End $4bn Annual Garment Import, Revive CTG Sector

James Emejo in Abuja

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Industry, John Enoh, yesterday said the federal government is partnering with the Bank of Industry (BoI) and other stakeholders to put an end to annual garment imports valued at about $4 billion.

The minister said the government will also work with critical financial institutions to facilitate access to finance and machinery for garment and textile businesses.

Speaking during an engagement with stakeholders in the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sector in Abuja,

Enoh said the government is committed to not only reviving the comatose textile industry but also promoting Made-in-Nigeria goods.

The minister acknowledged the challenges posed by the infrastructural and financial gaps, pointing out that the recently launched Industrial Revolution Work Group (IRWG), which is tasked with exploring case-by-case interventions for reviving dormant industries will be crucial in addressing identified obstacles.

He said, “We must ask ourselves: do we prioritise cotton, textile, or garments? The reality is that garments stimulate the entire chain. Countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Kenya started by importing textiles but built strong garment export markets that later justified investment in spinning, weaving, and cotton farming.”

President of the Garment and Accessories Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Adenike Ogunlesi, decried the huge amount Nigerians spend on imported clothing material.

Ogunlesi, who explained that all previous efforts to revive the textile industry have failed to achieve desired goals, maintained that the troubled sector seems to have defied solutions.

She further noted that despite a domestic market valued at over $6.8 billion, the country’s ready-to-wear segment contributes a meagre two per cent to GDP.

She said, “If we could capture just 10 per cent of Bangladesh’s export market, we would generate $3.3 billion in exports and create over a million direct jobs in Nigeria’s garment sector.”

However, to spur the sector back to life, stakeholders urged the government to toe the line of its neighbours that have concessional power to the operators as an incentive.

They maintained that investment incentives will enable the existing textile and garment firms to retool their capacity, saying this would require the resuscitation of the CTG Fund under BoI to provide financing at competitive rates and attract investment in world-class industrial parks to set up integrated textile and garment factories.

Chief Executive, Afroconsulting Trade and Services Limited, Navdeep Sodhi, argued that the textiles and clothing industry is the cornerstone of development in most developing countries and has a significant socioeconomic impact.

He added that globally more than 100 million people are directly employed in the industry and millions indirectly in the value chain.

He disclosed that with the textile market worth about seven billion dollars, Nigeria is the leading market in the ECOWAS sub-region.

However, he lamented that more than 90 per cent of the market is served by cheap imports which enter the country through grey channels.

He said, “This not only deprives the country of massive revenue but also hundreds and thousands of decent jobs and value addition to local raw materials. There is an urgent need to reverse this trend.”

He urged the government to create a long-term vision for 2035 to rebuild a vibrant textile and clothing industry worth 10 billion dollars backed by a political commitment.

Sodhi, also called for the creation of an enabling environment for the local textile industry by way of a level playing field while Improving the cost competitiveness of the industry to make locally produced textiles affordable to the masses.

The textile expert said incentives such as a minimum five-year tax holiday from VAT and import duties on raw materials and inputs used by the industry are germane.