Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has issued a stark warning against the Senate's proposed total ban on textile fabric imports, arguing that the policy would disrupt value chains worth an estimated N17 trillion, threaten the livelihoods of about 10 million Nigerians, and fail to revive the country's ailing textile industry. In a statement released on Sunday, June 28, 2026, the CPPE's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Muda Yusuf, urged lawmakers to abandon the restrictive measure in favour of structural reforms that address the deep-seated competitiveness challenges facing local manufacturers.
The Senate had on June 9, 2026, called for a total ban on the importation of textile products into Nigeria, following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Sunday Katung (APC, Kaduna South) titled 'Urgent need to revive the textile industries in Nigeria with particular reference to the Kaduna-Kano Axis'. The upper chamber argued that an outright ban was necessary to protect local manufacturers, revive cotton production, and create jobs.
However, the CPPE contended that while reviving the textile industry is a legitimate objective, an outright import prohibition would not address the sector's underlying problems and could instead impose substantial collateral damage on the broader economy. Yusuf argued that the proposal reflects "a narrow view of the textile industry's challenges" and overlooks the extensive linkages between textile manufacturing and Nigeria's garment, fashion, furniture, and creative economy value chains.
The CPPE warned that the ban would have devastating consequences for Nigeria's fashion, garment-making, and tailoring industry, which is conservatively valued at about N10 trillion and provides livelihoods for an estimated 10 million Nigerians. Textile fabrics serve as critical intermediate inputs for this ecosystem, and restricting imports would disrupt production, increase operating costs, reduce consumer choice, and threaten thousands of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in fashion, tailoring, and garment manufacturing.
The group also noted that textile fabrics are equally indispensable to Nigeria's furniture and interior design industry, estimated to be worth about N7 trillion. The industry relies extensively on fabrics for upholstered furniture, office furniture, hotel furnishings, and mattresses, and any supply disruption would increase production costs and weaken the sector's competitiveness.
Yusuf emphasised that these downstream industries generate significantly more employment than textile manufacturing itself and contribute substantial domestic value through design, tailoring, branding, embroidery, merchandising, and retailing. "In many cases, the local value added exceeds the value of the textile inputs," he noted.
The CPPE argued that the decline of Nigeria's textile industry is primarily the consequence of longstanding structural constraints rather than import competition. Yusuf identified high energy costs, expensive credit, poor infrastructure, logistics bottlenecks, obsolete technology, smuggling, weak access to long-term finance, and inconsistent government policies as the key factors driving the industry's decline.
He pointed out that imported textile fabrics already attract a combined Import Duty and Import Adjustment Tax (IAT) of between 35 and 45 percent, yet these tariff protections have failed to restore the sector's competitiveness. "The core problem lies in production economics rather than import penetration," Yusuf stated, adding that "an import ban proposition addresses the symptom while leaving the underlying causes unresolved".
The CPPE also noted that domestic textile manufacturers currently lack the capacity to meet the quantity, quality, and diversity of fabrics required by Nigeria's fashion, garment, interior design, and furniture industries. "Even at the peak of the textile industry's performance, local mills did not supply the full range of fabrics demanded by the market," Yusuf said.
Rather than imposing import restrictions, the CPPE urged the government to adopt a comprehensive value-chain approach to revive the textile industry. Specific recommendations included restoring domestic cotton production through improved seedlings, mechanisation, extension services, enhanced security, and guaranteed off-take arrangements; establishing a Textile Competitiveness Fund, financed partly from textile-related import tax revenues, to provide single-digit financing for technology upgrades and industry modernisation; prioritising locally produced textiles and garments for uniforms used by the military, paramilitary agencies, schools, and other public institutions; strengthening border enforcement to curb smuggling; and improving the manufacturing environment through lower energy costs, better infrastructure, and more affordable financing.
"Effective industrial policy should address the underlying constraints to competitiveness rather than merely restrict imports," the CPPE said. The group argued that these reforms would provide more sustainable support for domestic textile production than an outright import prohibition and would protect the millions of jobs and livelihoods that depend on the broader value chain.
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