Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, has lent his support to the call for the revival of Nigeria’s faltering textile and manufacturing industries by pleading with the National Assembly to pass a law that would punish the sale of prohibited textile materials by imprisoning offenders without the possibility of a monetary fine.
Aliko Dangote made a call yesterday in Lagos while delivering the Second Adeola Odutola Lecture on “Agenda Setting for Industrializing Nigeria in the Next Decade” in honor of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s (MAN) 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM).
He said: “For the textile industry, I think the government needs to formulate a law by the National Assembly that will say that anybody selling banned foreign textile must go to prison without an option of fine. So, it will be just going to jail even if it is just for two years.
“The real problem in the textile industry is not basically lack of cheaper power. If you give them cheaper power but allowed the smuggling to continue the textile will not last.
“What is happening is that foreign companies are using us (Nigeria) as a dumping ground. That is why I do not like to import. Anytime you import you will be importing poverty and exporting prosperity and job opportunities outside.”
In an effort to stop the smuggling of textiles into Nigeria, he suggested the government should use the same amount of force it used to enforce the prohibition on rice importation.
“Few decades ago textiles used to be the largest employer of labour after the federal government of Nigeria,” he added.
Africa’s richest man, Dangote, also urged the federal government with carrying out its industrial sector protection measures, particularly those pertaining to textile production, without regard to any potential repercussions.
He claimed that as of right now, anyone caught selling imported textiles anywhere would face jail time in India.
“Also, if something is banned in the United States of America for example, there is no way it could be displayed for sale in a shop.
“But what is stopping the implementation of Nigeria’s government policies is the absence of the political will to make sure that we implement those policies no matter who is going to be upset by us,” Dangote said, adding that manufacturers should “meet with the government to find a lasting solution, especially now that government is desperate about job creation, to stamp out smuggling for our industries to stand. If we have a prosperous environment the insecurity will drop.”
The following goals should be attained by Nigeria’s industrial sector during the course of the next ten years, according to him.
“Nigeria needs to henceforth intensify efforts at promoting industrialisation with specific focus on the attainment of the following targets in the next 10 years: 15 per cent manufacturing growth; 20 per cent manufacturing contribution to the GDP; 15 per cent growth in export of manufactured products; 10 per cent increase in the share of manufacturing to total export merchandise, stronger inter-industry linkage between SMEs and large corporations, improved manufacturing contribution to government tax revenue and 20 per cent increase in manufacturing employment,” he said.
Prof. Pat Utomi, the founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, commented on the collapse of the nation’s textile industry and blamed it on poor trade policies.
He said:
“But to get straight to the point, the textile industry failed because of Nigeria’s trade policy. The lesson we shall take from this is that we should have a standing working group consisting of some real experts and manufacturers to put the government under pressure about its trade policies.
“I wonder if we still remembered that Nigeria Textile Limited (NTL) break even within one month of its operation in 1960. And in its first six months of production was exporting to Manchester, United Kingdom.
“So, why did the textile industry die? Because wrong trade policies where being made and there was not enough pressure to get the government to do the right thing.
“And the government people were not doing it out of wickedness but ignorance. So, we have to remember that Nigeria is our country and collectively we can get the experts, manufacturers and the government to sit together and plot our way.
“The global textile industry today is dominated by five firms. How can Nigeria align with them and provide incentives to them to make Nigeria their base? So that today we cannot be talking about jobs because the textile industry will be providing millions of jobs.”
The President of MAN, Mr. Mansur Ahmed, said in his welcome address that the choice of Dangote as the guest speaker for the lecture was, “clearly predicated upon our belief that only experienced industrialists are well equipped to do justice to the theme, visibly highlight essential advocacy issues, suggest workable solutions and point the sector to key industrial development agenda for the next ten year.”
