By Omoh Gabriel
In a major move towards complying with the Executive Order 003, which directs all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to grant preference to local content in their procurement of goods and services, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, October 29, 2019, facilitated the signing of two memoranda of understanding (MOU) among stakeholders in the country’s Cotton, Textiles and Garments (CTG) sector. The first MOU signed was between the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) and Ginning Companies, to guarantee steady off-take and processing of cotton lint and cotton seeds; while the second was between the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association and the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Nigeria Police, Paramilitary Institutions & National Youth Service Corps to facilitate long-term contracts with Textile and Garment companies to manufacture uniforms in Nigeria for use by various arms of Nigeria’s uniform services.
Speaking at the epoch-making ceremony held at the Bank’s Head Office in Abuja, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele expressed gladness that all stakeholders had keyed into the vision of President Buhari to grow and develop Nigeria’s agricultural sector and the wider economy. According to him, the ceremony, which also attracted four State Governors (Kaduna, Cross River, Gombe and Katsina), two ministers and Service Chiefs as well as Heads of Uniformed Services and labour leaders, was the result of almost two years of painstaking activities and consultations with key stakeholders in the CTG value chain. While reeling out efforts made by the CBN, in collaboration with other agencies, to revamp the sector, Mr. Emefiele urged participants to collaborate closely in ensuring the patronage of local textile and garment factories in procurement of uniforms.
The Governor said that more than N100 billion is needed to revive Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sub sector. He said that the intervention needed on cotton farming and ginneries alone required close to N50 billion. He said the entire value chain did not end at cotton and ginneries, of course there was textile as well as garments. The governor said that some of the garment factories had also come asking for some facilities for them to retool to do more of sewing of these garments.
“It is not about the money, the most important is about the fact that we seize this opportunity to create jobs. We seize this opportunity for the industries that moribund and dead to come alive again in Nigeria and by extension helps to grow the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
“We are happy that we are effectively taking control of the entire CTG value chain, from the production of Cotton to the finished products which are textiles and garments. CBN and Bank of Industry are ready to finance this sub sector to help purchase modern technologies to enable them produce the required quality products” he said.
To guarantee conformity with quality and security, he assured that the CBN would work with the security agencies alongside concerned textile and garment factories “to ensure that the finished products as well as wastes are treated as currency -with highest level of security until they are delivered to the right clients or disposed accordingly.” Speaking further, Mr. Emefiele expressed confidence that the signing of the MOU would resuscitate the CTG sector as well as support the Bank’s efforts at creating jobs for many Nigerians. In their various remarks, the Governors of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade and his Gombe State counterpart, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya as well as the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Mannir Yakubu, concurred in describing the CBN initiative as a revolution, which should be supported by all to ensure the country achieved the objective of completely resuscitating the CTG sector.
Also speaking, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola stressed the need for all Nigerians to support every move aimed at conserving foreign exchange for the country, for the overall good of the economy. Highpoint of the ceremony was the signing of the memoranda of understanding between the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) and Ginners and between uniformed services and textile and garment factories.
