Over a million Nigerians have lost their jobs in the textile industry due to counterfeited products since 2000, according to the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), WorldStage Newsline reported.
Speaking at the HP Anti-Counterfeiting Conference in Abuja, Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu said, counterfeiting has the potential to endanger the economy and in turn its position as a new frontier economy.Over a million Nigerians have lost their jobs in the textile industry due to counterfeited products since 2000, according to the Standard Organization#
“Over a million Nigerian jobs in the textile industry have been lost since 2000 to counterfeiting, which has led to closure of many textile units and those that survived are in a comatose state”, he said.
“Other than this, counterfeiting also had microeconomic effects which impacts sales volumes, prices, costs of rights holders, new investment, royalties and brand value”, he added
He blamed the weak regulatory and legal framework for the devastating impact of counterfeiting.
According to the Director General, manufacture and distribution of substandard and counterfeit product should be considered as an economic crime which should be accompanied with severe and appropriate penalties to serve as deterrent.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India