UNEMPLOYMENT part 1: WHAT HAPPEND TO OUR NORTHERN OWNED TEXTILE COMPANIES? As I began to think all the blames that go to GEJ because of the level of unemployment in Nigeria I decided to take a look on one of the industries that really boosted employment in the 70s, 80, & 90s, the textile industry. The industry in Nigeria has had a chequered history. Apart from being a strategic player in the non-oil segment of the Nigerian economy, its high capacity for employment generation cannot be faulted. By 1996, available records indicate that the sector delivered over 137,000 direct and about 500,000 indirect employments to Nigerians, comprising of cotton growers, labourers, transporters, etc. It is the second largest in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa and represents 63 per cent of the textile capacity in the ECOWAS sub-region. Indeed, the Nigeria textile industry was the pride of the nation. By 1985, functional textile mills in the country numbered about 180 and employing about a million people. The industry accounted for 60 per cent of the textile capacity in West Africa and across all the geopolitical zones of Nigeria. It empowered millions of households. In those days, the giants of the industry like United Nigerian Textile Company, Aswani Textile, AFPRINT Nigeria Plc, were bubbling with life and production. Then, one could proudly say “I am wearing Aswani or a UNTL product” because these products were of high quality before the fakes started to infiltrate the Nigerian markets. Nigeria used to be the major supplier of high quality wax-resistant textile popularly known as Adire. The North always say that it is because of unemployment and illiteracy that made the youths in the north to become terrorists and they always heap all the blame on the head of GEJ. Now my question is this; what happened to Arewa Textile Mills Kaduna, Kaduna Textile, Northex Nigeria Ltd and finetex Ltd, owned by 19 Northern state governments. Who grounded these textile companies, GEJ, Abacha, IBB, etc? The north still blames GEJ for all their woes but I’m sure GEJ is not the one that closed run down these northern textile manufacturing companies. These companies were killed on or before the year 2004. Imagine how many Nigerians that would have been employed by these companies if they were still operational today? With increase in population and increase in textile material demand in Nigeria and the entire sub-Saharan Africa today, over 137,000 direct and about 500,000 indirect employments to Nigerians around 1990 how many Nigerians do you think that would have been working in these companies today? I need answers. Nigerians let us think before we “distribute” blame. Thank you
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 21:22:34 +0000
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