A meeting was recently held between the bank and the stakeholders to discuss how to revamp the industry and ensure sustainable growth, according to Nigerian media reports.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, who was represented by his deputy in charge of corporate services, Edward Adamu, said that the bank is committed to revamping the cotton, garment and textile sector of the country.

He added that the textile industry of Nigeria is capable of an average output between 150,000 and 300,000 metric tonnes with a ginning capacity of 497,000 metric tonnes at 51 per cent capacity utilisation from 19 per cent.

The textile sector of the country has a huge potential for creating thousands of jobs, supporting production and using local goods to save billions in foreign exchange, Emefiele added.

He added that their intention is to increase the capacity of the sector by 70 per cent by the 2021 wet season. The CBN is also looking to close the seed cotton gap of 450,000 metric tonnes by 2022 and collaborate with private stakeholders to improve the quality of the seeds to increase the yield.

The cotton cultivation in the country went from 50,000 metric tonnes in 2018 to 120,000 metric tonnes in 2019 after CBN’s intervention. In the last two years, the bank has financed four textile companies, three garment makers and 19 ginneries, increasing the number of ginneries from 13 in 2019 to 21 as of June 2021.

CBN is working with ginneries to backward integrate and cultivate an average of 43,100 hectares for an estimated output of 86,200 metric tonnes, said CBN director, development finance, Philip Yila-Yusuf.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)