TheCable

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says at least 130 textile companies have folded up in the country in recent times, due to constraints.

According to NAN, Emefiele made the statement during a courtesy call on Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, on Monday.

He added that the ginners, spinners, and about one million farmers who were planting cotton as their source of livelihood have also lost their jobs.

He cited lack of jobs as one of the reasons for the growing insecurity in the country, saying the issue needs to be addressed.

“Textile industries used to be the largest employers of labour in Nigeria after the public service but due to certain constraints, such as smuggling, dumping, lack of access to finance and issue bordering on power, over 130 textile companies have so far perished,” he said.

“And today we are complaining about insecurity and kidnapping, the reason for this is joblessness and hopelessness, so, we need to do something about it.

“We must revitalise the textile industry to be the largest employer of labour, we feel that we will set the stage rolling, we must come to Katsina state which is the largest producer of cotton to begin the process.”

According to him, CBN has held a lot of meetings with the farmers and other people along the value chain on how to achieve success.

The CBN governor urged Nigerians to stop the smuggling and dumping of cotton and textile materials in order to realise the set goal.

In his remarks, Masari said agriculture was the next sector that the state government accorded priority after education.

He said reviving the textile industry was the biggest and quickest way of solving unemployment in the country and commended the CBN for its efforts in that direction.

He urged the CBN to review the procedures for accessing loan facilities by the farmers.