Senator Adams Oshiomhole has called on President Bola Tinubu to mandate the nation’s armed forces and other paramilitary agencies to stop using foreign-made uniforms and patronize locally produced textiles instead.

Speaking on Monday in Kaduna at the 37th Annual National Education Conference of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Oshiomhole decried the government’s continued encouragement of foreign fabric importation, describing it as detrimental to job creation and industrial growth.“If we wear what we produce and produce what we wear, we can employ 20 million Nigerians,” he said.

“That is the real meaning of putting Nigeria first.”The conference, themed “Industry, Labour and National Development,” drew union leaders and policymakers from across the country.

During the event, the five-storey headquarters of the NUTGTWN in Kaduna—originally known as the Textile Labour House—was renamed Adams Oshiomhole Textile Labour House in honour of the former Edo State governor, who served as Secretary-General of the union about 40 years ago.Oshiomhole urged the president to move beyond rhetoric and implement policies that support local manufacturers.“As Commander-in-Chief, the President should direct that the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force wear only uniforms produced and sewn in Nigeria,” he said to thunderous applause from thousands of textile workers.

Recalling the glory days when Kaduna’s textile factories employed over 27,000 workers operating three shifts daily, Oshiomhole lamented that “reckless government policies” and unguarded trade liberalization had crippled what was once one of Africa’s most vibrant industrial sectors.

“Those factories didn’t die of old age; they were murdered by bad policies,” he said. “When we joined the World Trade Organization, we surrendered our right to protect our industries and jobs.

”He praised the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, for his foresight in establishing the Kaduna Textile Mills in the 1950s, noting that the initiative gave dignity to workers and reduced dependency on imports.

“Our leaders then knew it made no sense to export cotton and import clothes.

That vision created jobs and built communities,” he added.Oshiomhole warned that the collapse of the industrial sector had fueled rising insecurity and social division. “When people had jobs, nobody cared about religion. Today, with factories shut and millions idle, we have produced anger, not cotton,” he said.

Commending President Tinubu’s foreign exchange reforms, Oshiomhole noted that they had curbed the influence of “emergency billionaires” who profited from currency arbitrage.“Before Tinubu, people made money without effort—just with a phone call.

Now, those distortions are being corrected,” he said.He encouraged workers to remain steadfast in their fight for decent work and fair pay, stressing that the pursuit of workers’ welfare was a patriotic duty.

“Don’t ever apologize for fighting for dignity. The primary purpose of government is the welfare of citizens, not the profit of business,” he stated.

Reaffirming his lifelong loyalty to the labour movement, Oshiomhole declared, “I remain a labour man for life. From age 18, I’ve known no other calling.

I will keep fighting until Nigeria returns to the path of production, not importation.”