In a bid to revitalize the textile manufacturing industry in Nigeria, the Senate has appealed to e Federal Government to ban the importation of textiles in the country for a period of five years to allow for the production of local textile materials.
The appeal was made during the debate on a motion sponsored by Kabir Barkiya (APC-Katsina Central) during plenary on “Urgent need to revamp the nation’s comatose textile industry”.
The upper chamber also advocated for the provision of necessary infrastructural facilities by the Federal Government, most importantly power supply to local textile manufacturing companies to revamp the industry.
It also called on the government to encourage local textile manufacturing companies by providing them with soft loans and easy access to credit facilities through the Bank of Industry.
Debating the motion, Mr Barkiya noted that the textile industry in the country played a significant role in the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy with a record of over 140 companies in the 1960s and 1970s.
However, responding to the call of a ban on textile importation, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said that as Nigeria had signed the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, “we have to be prepared for the repercussions.
“We cannot stop trading easily with other people. We have to up our game; we need to be competitive,” Mr Lawan said.
