The Nigeria Labour Congress has sought investigation into intervention funds allocated to revive the sector, pointing to past government’s initiatives such as the N100 billion and recent N50 billion Textile Revival Implementation Committee.
According to the Nation, the NLC’s President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, made this call while speaking at the 13th National Delegates’ Conference of the National Union of Textiles Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria in Abuja,
He bemoaned that despite these investments, the industry continues to struggle, prompting questions about the effective utilisation of the funds.
“Nigerians would want to know what happened and why the sector is still struggling, despite the purported injection of these funds,” adding that there was no nation that joked with its textile sector because of its value chain and “the great potential for job creation, both directly and indirectly.
“We remember that the sector employed millions of Nigerians in the over 200 full-fledged textile companies that dotted the landscape proudly utilising our cotton to produce various textile products that were consumed internally and exported to neighbouring countries,” he said.
Ajaero also emphasized on the devastating impact of neo-liberal policies on the sector:
“Your union was heavily impacted by the policies of the twin altars – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The neo-liberal ‘marketist’ philosophy opened our economy to all manner of unhealthy competition via imports.
“Finished textile wears and materials poured into our country and this sounded the death knell for our local textile industry,” the NLC president added.
Ajaero called for a collective action amid these challenges, identifying the need for stakeholders to join hands in rescuing the sector.
He commende NUTGTWN for its past efforts in fighting for workers’ rights while enjoining the union to continue its pursuit of a sustainable future for the industry.
