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Ebuka Daniel
Over 620,000 direct and indirect jobs were created in two years as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) intervention in Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sector.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made this disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ engagement for the resuscitation of the Cotton, Textile and Garment sector.
Emefiele said the 620, 000 jobs were created through a number of measures targeted at improving the fortunes of operators in the of CTG sector while working to stop the smuggling and dumping of textile materials in the country.
These measures he said include “disbursing over N44 billion between 2019 and 2020 across the value chain and monitoring recovery over the period.
CBN also increased industry capacity of ginneries from an average of 19 percent to 51 percent; the textile sector getting 100 percent of their major raw material (cotton lint) at a CBN-subsidized rate of N440, 000 as against the market price of N593, 000; engaging uniformed services to start patronizing made-in-Nigeria textiles for their uniform and ensuring that the garment industry received orders for production of uniforms and cotton harvest bags.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services Directorate of the CBN Mr. Edward Lametek Adamu, the CBN Governor also revealed that “the CBN’s engagement with uniformed services has led to at least five agencies partnering with local textile manufacturers”.
This is in addition to the CBN supporting “the textile companies in the last two to three years, leading to the revival of some previously moribund companies”.
Emefiele said the apex bank is “working with existing prime anchors for 10,000 hectares of land with an estimated output of 20,000 Metric Tons” while they will be working with associations to cultivate about 80,000 hectares of land with an average output of 120,000 Metric tons at 1.5 Metric Tons per hectare.
Also speaking at the occasion, CBN’s Director of Development Finance Mr. Philip Yusuf Yila highlighted the target of the CBN’s intervention in the country to include: closing the seed cotton gap in Nigeria of 450,000 Metric Tonnes by 2022; increasing the capacity utilization of ginneries from less than 30 percent to 80 percent in the same period.
The CBN also plans to reduce smuggling and dumping of textiles by at least 40 percent by end 2022.
From 2019 to 2020, the bank had financed 19 ginneries, four textile companies and three garment manufacturers under the textile sector intervention facility.
This Yila said “has led to an increase in the number of active ginneries from 13 in 2019 to 21 as at June 2021”.
“The CBN has financed over 200,000 cotton farmers between 2019 and 2020 cultivating 291,761 hectares of land with an output of 94,787 Metric tonnes of cotton seed. This has led to an improvement in the household income of each farmer by an average of N240, 000.”
