Nigeria’s federal government has provided a 50 billion naira fund to help in resuscitating the country’s ailing textile industries.(125 naira=US$1).
The fund, to be managed by a consortium of local banks, will provide loans fo r the industries at a single-digit rate to enable them invest in critical area s and compete with foreign firms.
Unbridled flooding of the local market with cheap foreign textile materials, t ough operating environment and lack of funds for expansion have combined to push the textile sub-sector into a near collapse.
From a combined work force of 253,000 in 1992, the sub-sector currently employ s less than 60,000 workers.
The only surviving textile industry in northern Nigeria – United Textiles Mill s Plc., was recently shut down.
Analysts said reviving comatose textile industries will help create new jobs.
