The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Monday that smuggling of textiles goods into the country has been estimated to cost over $2.2 billion annually.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made this known in Katsina ,during the flag -off of the distribution of high yielding cotton seeds and other farm input to cotton farmers.
In his keynote address ,the CBN Governor reiterated that Nigeria currently spends about $4 billion yearly on importation of textile materials and ready-made clothing .
Emefiele added that investigation is ongoing to apprehended individuals and corporate organisations involved in smuggling and dumping of textiles in the country pointing out that the apex bank is collating data on those involve with illegitimate trade.
According to him, investigation is also being extended to the 42 other items restricted from FOREX in Nigeria.
“After our investigations, the names of these individuals will be publicised and will be barred from conducting any banking business with companies or their operators,’’ he said.
He added that ‘’Nigeria with projected population of over 190 million, the needs of domestic market are huge and varied with immense prospects for growth of the domestic textile industries,’’ he said.
While commenting on Nigerian farmers input to economy growth, Emefiele said that cotton, textiles and garment sectors had been in difficulty in the past 20 years.
‘’We must reverse these trends, and in doing so, the CBN is currently gathering data about, and investigating the accounts of individuals and corporate organisations involved in smuggling and dumping textile materials into the country.
‘’Farmers and processors have had to deal with low quality seeds and rising operation cost, weak sales due to high energy costs of running factories and poor access to finance,’’ he said.
The CBN further noted that with the provision of seedlings to over 100,000 farmers cultivating over 200,000 hectares of farmlands, we expect production of cotton to be high.
‘’These measures will help to improve cotton production from 80,000 tons produced in 2018 to over 300,000 tonnes by 2020.
’We also believe that these steps which we are embarking on today, will not only resuscitate this vital sector, but will also help to support our efforts at creating jobs for a large number of Nigerians,’’ he said.
In his goodwill address, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, stressed the need for officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service to be committed in the fight against smuggling.
‘’We need to be serious in all the steps that we have taken in order to succeed, because the importation of textile materials is at the expense of textile industries in the country,’’ he said.
