President of MAN, Mr. Frank Jacobs
Clear reasons have emerged on why several years after the institution of N500bn textile Intervention fund, only limited number of industries has access the facility domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In an interview, the Director General of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadri said official bureaucracy and strict conditions surrounding the allocation of the fund have remained key challenges.
However, he appealed to the Federal Government to relax the tough conditions attached to disbursement of the Textile Intervention Fund so that the large number moribund textile companies will have easy access to the facility before they finally go into extinction.
He recalled that textile sector had been the largest employer of labour in Nigeria during the 19970s/80s and decried that “The textile industry had suffered a lot of bashing, especially as a result of smuggling and other infrastructure deficiencies.
“At the moment, we do not have more than five textile industries working and they are functioning at low capacity.
However, he noted that the government had responded in terms of policy initiatives, but the major issue is the access to Textile Fund anchored by the CBN.
