Union urges Buhari to create textiles ministry

National Union of Textiles, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has urged the Federal Government to create a ministry for the textiles to address the woes of the industry.

The textiles workers said they would demand from government a directive for massive patronage of locally-made fabrics by Nigerians this year.

In a New Year message signed by the national president, John Adaji, and the secretary, Issa Aremu, the union said that the creation of ‘Ministry of Textiles’ would address the problem facing the sector and lead to the full revival of the sector.

According to Adaji, government should see the creation of the ministry as a priority, as it is done in India, China and Pakistan.

“The objective of the proposed ministry would be to regularly upgrade the textile value chains, improve labour productivity, maximise value addition and formulate strategies and programme to enable the textile sector meet the challenges to attain global competitiveness,” he said.

To combat smuggling and counterfeiting of textile products, he stressed that “the fiscal authorities must try and complement the commendable efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monetary and development financing measures.”