BY ONYEKA AJUMOBI ONOCHIE
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned sales of foreign exchange to importers of textiles and clothing materials, with a view to boosting the revival of local textile production in the country.
The apex bank governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated this on Tuesday during a meeting with stakeholders in the cotton sector of the economy in Abuja.
Emefiele said the CBN has rather resolved to support textile manufacturers with the provision of funds at single digits rate, to refit, retool and upgrade their factories in order to produce high-quality textile materials for the local and export market.
Emiefele, who lamented that Nigeria currently spends above $4 billion annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing with a projected population of over 180 million, said one of the steps the apex bank has taken to cause a boom in the textile industry is its ban on forex “for all forms of textile materials,” stressing that this would definitely revive the sector and expand job opportunities.
He, therefore, ordered all forex dealers in Nigeria to desist forthwith from granting all textile importers access to FX in the Nigerian Foreign exchange market, adding that the CBN shall, henceforth, adopt other far reaching strategies to thwart the efforts of recalcitrant smugglers to operate banking business in Nigeria. “The details of those strategies will be unfolded in due course,” he noted.
Speaking further, Emefiele said other strategies being implemented by the apex bank to boost the textile industry is the initial support of the importation of cotton lint for use in textile factories, with a caveat that such importers shall begin sourcing all their cotton needs locally beginning from the year 2020.
“As part of its Anchor Borrowers Program, the CBN will support local growers of cotton to enable them to meet the needs of the textile industries in Nigeria. The CBN shall also support efforts to source high yield cotton seedlings so as to ensure the yields from our cotton farmers meet global benchmarks,” he said, adding, “as regards provision of stable electricity, the CBN shall support the creation of textile production centres in certain designated areas in Nigeria where access to electricity shall be guaranteed.”
He further stressed, “In 2016, the CBN began discussions with the Kano and Kaduna State Governments to establish textile industrial areas in a bid to guarantee stable electricity in those industrial areas. We would intensify efforts with these governments and others that may show keen interest to see to the quick actualization of such programs.”
*Photo: CBN Governor