Sambo Commends CTG Fund’s Boost to Textile Activities

Vice President, Arc Mohammed Namadi Sambo has commended the operators of the textile industries in Nigeria for the effective application of the Cotton Textile and Garment (CTG) fund and its prudent utilization for the revival of the ailing textile industries
He made such remark when he received some textile chief executives led by Senator Walid Jibril who paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the State House Abuja.
The Vice President who stated that government has keen interest in the growth of the textile industries due to its capacity to employ large number of people, create wealth and improve the economy, expressed delight with the way employment has not only stabilized but improved over the years after a sharp decline.
Arc Sambo who responded to the outcome of a Power-Point presentation noted the challenges facing the industry and enumerated the efforts of government in tackling them. He intimated them on the efforts to generate enough power to meet the yearnings of the manufacturing sector, the efforts to revitalize the transportation sector in terms of rail lines rehabilitation and construction, roads rehabilitation and construction, dredging of waterways and the development of deep seaports to facilitate port activities
The vice president noted their request for government assistance in securing textile loans with long tenor and assured that government would look into their request with a view to linking them with the relevant financial institutions that would assist in that direction.
The vice president tasked the textile executives in developing ways to produce cheaper and competitive goods, without compromising quality “as such ingenuity has the effect of curbing smuggling” he added.
Earlier, the textile executives in a PowerPoint presentation, had enumerated the gains which they have derived from the CTG fund which were arresting unemployment, boosting the income of the Nigerian cotton farmers, revival of closed textile mills, modernization of equipment and textile mills to improve quality and efficiency, diversification of product mix to expand technical textiles, increase in foreign exchange earnings through non-oil exports and the promotion and branding of made in Nigeria textiles through retailing amongst others.
Since the disbursement of the loans, there has been an increase of active textile mills from 25 active mills in 2009 to 32 mills in 2012 with the consequent effect of stabilizing the workforce at 24,000. He therefore called on government to help them secure long term loans to address some identified challenges so that they could increase their production capacity.