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BoI tasks textile producers on new technology investment to revive jobs

By Itunu Ajayi, Abuja
03 September 2015   |   1:44 am
With over 121,100 jobs lost to inactivity in the textile industry, the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Rasheed Olaoluwa has hinged nation's textile producers’ competitiveness on adoption of emerging technology in the sub-Sector. Olaoluwa, who spoke during the yearly National Education Conference in Kaduna, noted that the adoption of new technology would not only…
Bank Of Industry- image source kaaf

Bank Of Industry- image source kaaf

With over 121,100 jobs lost to inactivity in the textile industry, the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Rasheed Olaoluwa has hinged nation’s textile producers’ competitiveness on adoption of emerging technology in the sub-Sector.

Olaoluwa, who spoke during the yearly National Education Conference in Kaduna, noted that the adoption of new technology would not only help textile producers in cutting cost of production, but would also make their products competitive in the global market.

The forum, which has as its theme: “Buhari Administration: Revival of Textile Industry and Creation of Decent Jobs”, was organised by the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) and Nigeria Textile, Garment and Tailoring Employers’ Association.

The conference brought together various stakeholders to deliberate on the state of the textile sector with a view to addressing some of the constraints that have held it down from realizing its potential in employment generation and capital flow.

A statistics released at the event showed that while over 121,100 jobs have been lost as a result of inactivity in the sector, while only 39 out of the 143 textile mills across the country, still subsists.

However, beyond the issue of finance and smuggling, the BoI boss stated that it was imperative for the operators in the sector to be innovative, adding that textile business had gone digital.

His words: “The textile union education conference is very timely in the sense that, as you are aware, the President, Mohammadu Buhari has been quite emphatic on the need for Nigeria to revive the textile sector. Some of the issues that have come out today has to do with how to deal with the issue of smuggling. It is an issue government needs to deal with firmly, especially with the Nigeria Customs Service. What also came out clear is the need for the textile industry to also be up and doing in term of embracing new technology.

“Textile industry globally has gone digital and for us to be competitive, we need to invest in new technology and ensure that textile industry is able to do cost effective short-run. New technology we enable textile producers to come up with product sample very quickly, come out with new designs just by operating the computer. There is a lot of computer aided designs that have gone into textile printing today. That is the challenge to the industry. There is no doubt that the industry will be fixed by this government”.

Also, the Executive Governor, Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, expressed the commitment of the present administration to revive the textile industry.

According to him, the President has constituted a committee to look at all the issues in the sector.

“The revival of textile industry is to us a matter of life or death. Certainly we will not choose death and that is why immediately I got elected, the first places I visited were textile mills. So I want to assure Mr. president and members of this Union, that we will not leave any stone unturned until we bring back the glory of Nigeria textile industry.

“We will deal with hindrances on our way; if it is customs, we will deal with them decisively. The textile industry is the only subsector that is mentioned specifically in APC manifesto as one of the priority areas that must be revived. The first committee he set up is the committee on the revival of the Cotton, Textile and Garment value chain. That committee is working”, he added.

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