Says imports account for 90 per cent of domestic demand

Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Forum (CTGDF) has called on the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the textile industry, saying about 180 textile factories have shut down operations as a result of the sector’s prolonged decline.

Coordinator of the forum, Anibe Achimugu, made the demand in a statement yesterday to mark the 2026 World Cotton Day.

According to him, the government must move to preserve viable industrial assets, recover legitimate public loans and operationalise the proposed Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Board (CTGDB).

He added Nigeria’s cotton and textile sector had suffered a severe decline, with national cotton production now estimated at 13,000 metric tonnes, while imports account for approximately 90 per cent of domestic textile demand.

Achimugu said the figures represented more than the loss of individual businesses, stressing that factory closures had affected farmers, industrial jobs, local economies, government revenue and Nigeria’s foreign exchange position.

The group urged the Federal Government to prevent avoidable loss of the country’s remaining cotton, ginning, textile and garment production assets.

It specifically called for a review of factories facing receivership or enforcement action over facilities obtained from the Bank of Industry (BoI) and other creditors.

The forum said legitimate debts should be recovered, but argued that recovery should be structured in a manner that would preserve economic value and maximise repayment prospects.

It added that where a business remained viable, restructuring or transfer to a new operator could yield better returns for creditors than distressed liquidation.

The forum stressed that the issue was not whether public loans should be recovered, but how they could be recovered without destroying the industrial capacity those loans were intended to create.

Achimugu urged the government to establish a 12-month Cotton, Textile and Garment Industrial Asset Preservation and Recovery Protocol, beginning with a 90-day national audit of qualifying distressed factories.

Under the proposal, factories would undergo independent technical, financial, legal, environmental and market assessments before being classified for rehabilitation, restructuring, transfer to credible operators or orderly exit.

The forum called for a verified national register detailing ownership, creditors, legal status, machinery, utilities, workforce and the condition of each facility.

The CTGDF urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve the immediate take-off of the board, approve the recommendations of the steering committee and authorise the preparation and transmission of an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for its final institutionalisation.