Nigeria currently spends over $4 billion annually on importing textiles and readymade clothing, despite the Nigerian government?s initiatives to revive the textile sector in recent times, according to the Director General (DG) of Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), Hamma Kwajaffa. Textiles is Nigeria?s second largest employer after the government.
Nigeria has the potential to produce textiles for the local market of 170 million people. It also exports textiles to the ECOWAS market of 175 million people as well as to the developed world such as the United States under AGOA and EU GSP scheme which Kenya, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar and a number of African countries are already exploiting.
Influx of smuggled goods continues to flood major textile markets. It not only undermines the local industry but also steals their jobs and importantly deprives government of revenue, says Kwajaffa.