BY MARK ITSIBOR, Abuja, ISAIAH BENJAMIN, AZA MSUe, Kaduna and OLUSHOLA BELLO, Lagos
Efforts by the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to revive ailing textile and garment industry have failed to achieve the desired result.
LEADERSHIP findings showed that the sector has still not come alive despite the N220billion intervention funds by the fiscal and monetary authorities.
The federal government had announced N100billion textile revival fund instituted in Cotton, Textile and Garments (CTG) in 2009 to be managed and disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI).
Also, the CBN announced last year that it had made an intervention in the CTG industry to the tune of N120billion to fund the entire CTG value chain.
According to the apex bank, 320,000 farmers benefited from the CTG intervention funds.
The aim was to enhance the production capacity of local ginneries in producing over 102,000 metric tons of cotton lint, which is expected to meet and surpass the cotton lint requirement of the nation’s textile industries, and facilitate the takeover of the existing debt as well as offer additional long-term loans and working capital to existing companies in the cotton, textile and garment sector.
“Since the inception of the CTG intervention, huge progress has been made, some of which include over N120bn invested across CTG value chain; Over 320,000 farmers financed between 2018-2020; expected output for seed cotton in 2020 is projected to be over 300,000 metric tons,” deputy CBN governor, corporate services, Edward Adamu, had said at a CTG stakeholders meeting in Abuja in October 2020.
But LEADERSHIP investigations showed that till date, the bailout fund is yet to bring the textile mills back to life fully.
The CBN introduced the fund to provide additional long-term loans and working capital to existing companies in the CTG industry.
Industry experts who spoke with our correspondents, said because the…
Read the full article at leadership.ng
