Senate seeks ban on textile imports to revive local industry

The Senate on Tuesday called for a total ban on the importation of textile products into Nigeria as part of efforts to revive the country’s struggling textile industry and create jobs. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Sunday Katung and co-sponsored by several lawmakers, including Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Adams Oshiomhole, Mohammed Monguno, Ibrahim Khalid and Mustapha Khabeeb. Leading the debate, Katung lamented the decline of an industry that was once one of Nigeria’s largest employers of labour. He recalled that the first large textile manufacturing mill in Nigeria was established in Kaduna in 1957, while government policies in the 1960s and 1970s helped the sector flourish. According to him, Nigeria had about 167 textile mills in the late 1970s and 1980s, employing nearly 500,000 workers. Katung noted that Kaduna earned the nickname “Textile City” because of the concentration of major textile companies operating in the state. Lawmakers who contributed to the debate blamed the sector’s collapse on inadequate government protection, smuggling, and the influx of imported textile products. Senator Jibrin Isah urged the National Assembly to work closely with relevant government agencies to ensure that the Senate’s resolutions are implemented. “This motion is very important, but I don’t want it to die like other motions,” he said. “I want us to engage the Ministry of Industry. We have to sit down with the ministry and tell them how this thing should go. This is what we call financial engineering; we have to structure it.” Also contributing, Senator Ogoshi Onawo said reviving the textile industry could help address rising unemployment and insecurity across the country. Related News Senate grills SEDC boss over ₦16.6bn budget, demands explanation Opposition using insecurity to discredit Tinubu administration – Akpabio Nigeria’s economic reforms working, but poverty increasing – IMF “This motion wouldn’t have come at a better time than this. All that is happening in our country today is due to lack of jobs for our youths,” he said. “I am sure we can come back on track, get our youths employed, get our farmers engaged, and this country will be better for it.” For his part, Senator Adamu Aliero argued that a complete ban on textile imports was necessary to protect local manufacturers and revive cotton production. “Nigeria used to be the largest producer of cotton in the world,” he said.“We were producing a lot of cotton, but because of a lack of protection and smuggling, textile mills started closing, and we saw a lot of textil