Senate Moves to Place Ban on Textiles Imports
The Senate Tuesday began debate on the need to ban importation of textiles.
The Upper Chamber urged the federal government to place the ban for a period of five years as part of the measures to encourage local production of textiles.
In a motion under plenary and titled “Urgent need to revamp the nation’s comatose textile industry”, Sen. Kabir Barkiya argued such economic measure will boost local production of textiles in the country.
Barkiya called on the federal government to ensure that necessary infrastructure is provided to make local production possible.
For instance, he stressed the need for reliable power supply as well as soft loans to make the textile industries come back to life.
He said the textile industry which blossomed in the past was killed by poor infrastructure and massive importation.
According to him, “The textile industry recorded an annual growth of 67 percent and as of 1991, employed above 25 percent of the workers in the manufacturing sector. The textile industry was then the highest employer of labour apart from the civil service” .
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan in his statement noted that with Nigeria signing the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, the country must be prepared for the repercussions.
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