By Toye Olori
LAGOS, Nov 20 1997 (IPS)

Nigerian industrialists and workers in the textile industry are lobbying the government ahead of the 1998 budget to revisit the import liberalisation policy which has put the textile industry in shambles.

“Government must take a second look at the policy, because of the negative consequences it has inflicted on the workforce, which has culminated in retrenchments, redundancy, and retirement,” said Joseph Olodun, President of the Textile, Garment and Tailoring Senior Staff Association.

According to Olodun, the textile industry used to be the second largest employer after the public service in Nigeria. At one time, the textile industry employed about 300,000 workers, he said, adding that “the number has reduced to about 120,000 due to the harsh economic climate and various government policies”.

The General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Tailoring and Garment Employers, Adams Oshiomale, said that the union had lost many of its members, because of retrenchment and retirement in the industry.

Oshiomale added that the government can protect the local industry by stopping the importation of foreign fabrics and second- hand clothing.

“The lifting of the ban on the importation of foreign fabrics has opened the doors to inferior products, and Nigeria happens to be a dumping ground,” Oshiomale said. “The policy has really affected the sub-sector, hence some of the textile firms have even closed shop, while others are retrenching in order to stay afloat,” he added.

The government liberalised the import of textiles about 11 months ago. Those within the industry say the opening of the market has brought in textiles from India, for example, and other Asian countries. These textiles are cheaper than locally produced materials.

Due to the economic downturn, the reduced purchasing power of most Nigerians has pushed them towards the more affordable second- hand materials. It is quite common to find second-hand clothes boutiques on almost every corner in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria.

Local textile companies are now finding it difficult to sell their products. Nigeria has 92 textile companies. Less than half of these are operating profitably, while many are on the verge of collapse.

Liberalisation, besides opening the market to foreign textiles, has also brought higher import duties, and industrialists argue that the foreign exchange needed to import raw materials has become more and more expensive.

Most of the raw materials, except cotton, are imported, and with the declining sales, companies are finding it difficult to raise enough foreign exchange for importation.

Nigeria’s government, which is expected to announce the 1998 budget in January, believes the textile industry must either sink or swim in the new economic climate.

In a message to this year’s Textile Economic Summit here last week, the then Minister of Industries, Lt.Gen. Mohammed Haladu, announced that the government would not re-impose a ban on imported textiles. General Sani Abacha dissolved his cabinet Monday, retaining only three of his former ministers.

“In order to enhance the performance of the industry, the textile subsector was granted tremendous protection, including import prohibition in the past three decades,” Haladu said.

” However, with increasing globalisation and liberalisation of the world economy, it has become imperative to de-emphasise trade restrictive measures,” he added. “The onus is on textile companies to produce goods that are of high quality and internationally competitive.”

The textile industry, he advised, should look inwards for sources of inputs, spare parts, machinery and equipment.

“Given the abundant human and material resources, Nigeria has a great potential and capacity to transform into a virile and fast growing industrialised economy within a short time. With a population of over 104 million people, the country constitutes the largest market in the West African Sub-region.

“This size of market is a necessary factor for the growth of a profitable business and an attraction to investors in the sense of an effective demand,” Haladu said.

Rather than seek a return to the past, he urged the manufacturers to embrace liberalisation and take advantage of the various global agreements the country has signed.

Some of the larger Nigerian textile companies, which have invested in modern technology, are staying afloat despite the severe stresses and strains of liberalisation.

For example, the former Inspector-General of Police and chairman of Kaduna Textile Limited, Aliyu Attah, late last month told the company’s annual general meeting that the firm had recorded a higher turnover during the year, which ended in March, compared to the previous year, due to the acquisition of modern technology and an improvement in the basic quality of Kaduna’s products.

So far, Kaduna Textile Limited, he said, has spent about 450 million Naira (about 56 million U.S. Dollars) on a modernisation programme.

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