By Chesa Chesa
The Federal Government, in collaboration with the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), has kickstarted the resuscitation of Nigeria’s cotton industry with a target to create over 1.4 million jobs annually in the cotton/textile sector.
The focus is to develop key components of the cotton value chain comprising farming, weaving, ginning and linking of cotton, all in line with the industrialization drive of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
This was the outcome of a meeting held on Tuesday between Vice President Kashim Shettima and a delegation from the ICAC led by its Executive Director, Mr. Eric Trachtenberg, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking after remarks from the ICAC delegation and other participants at the meeting, Senator Shettima urged stakeholders to come up with a roadmap for the revitalization of the cotton/textile sector in Nigeria, noting that “it is time to work more and talk less”.
The Vice President assured that the Tinubu administration will make conscious efforts to ensure the country harnesses opportunities in the cotton value chain, including ensuring that Nigeria regains its ICAC membership.
He thanked the delegation for the visit, just as he acknowledged ICAC’s commitment to the development of the sector in Africa, noting that “your diverse backgrounds in ICAC gives a nuance understanding of the complexities and opportunities in the cotton value chain.”
Earlier in his remarks, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos said his state was well positioned to harness opportunities in the cotton value chain, given that it hosts the factories, the market and is a critical component of the business ecosystem for the cotton sub-sector.
He said Lagos, as an integral part of the cotton value chain in Nigeria, will support every effort by stakeholders to revamp the sector to enable the state sustain its status as the largest fashion hub in the continent.
On his part, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State said the meeting with the delegation from the ICAC is the beginning of Nigeria’s quest to revamp the textile industry as part of the broad objective for industrializing the economy.
According to him, “the opportunity created by the meeting is a new beginning in our quest for industrial recovery and creation of jobs for our teeming youths as well as an opportunity for a new partnership.”
In his remarks, Mr Trechtenberg said he was pleased with the level of interest and commitment shown by the leadership of the country and other stakeholders in reviving the industry in Nigeria.
He noted that cotton and textile offer competitive advantage, economic transformation and is a very competitive product that can be sold, both domestically and internationally, with probability to generate high quality jobs for now and in the future.
