By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria is targeting 1.4 million jobs as it collaborates with the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) to revive the country’s moribund cotton/textile industry.
Disclosing this in a statement on Tuesday, the Vice President’s Media Aide, Mr Stanley Nkwocha, said the government met with the ICAC at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital, led by its Executive Director, Mr Eric Trachtenberg.
Chairing the meeting is the Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, where discussions centred on developing key components of the cotton value chain comprising farming, weaving, ginning and linking of cotton, all in line with the industrialization drive of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Mr Nkwocha stated the target was to “create over 1.4 million jobs annually in the cotton/textile sector.”
The statement read, “Senator Shettima urged stakeholders to come up with a roadmap for the revitalization of the cotton/textile sector in Nigeria, noting that “it is time to work more and talk less.”
The Vice President assured that “the Tinubu administration will make conscious efforts to ensure the country harnesses opportunities in the cotton value chain, including ensuring that Nigeria regains its ICAC membership.”
Mr Shettima thanked the delegation for the visit, just as he acknowledged ICAC’s commitment to the development of the sector in Africa.
“Your diverse backgrounds in ICAC gives a nuanced understanding of the complexities and opportunities in the cotton value chain,” he noted.
In his remarks, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said his state was well positioned to harness opportunities in the cotton value chain, given that it hosts the factories, and the market and is a critical component of the business ecosystem for the cotton sub-sector.
The governor expressed excitement at the possibility and opportunity for the resuscitation of the cotton and textile sector with a particular focus on job creation and economic transformation.
Mr Sanwo-Olu pledged the state’s readiness to offtake cotton produced in other parts of the country for companies based within the area.
On his part, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State said the meeting with the delegation from the ICAC is the beginning of Nigeria’s quest to revamp the textile industry as part of the broad objective for industrializing the economy.
He said Imo State and the Southeastern region will be key to the renewed effort to revamp the cotton/textile sector with the bid to create jobs for the people and for the overall industrialization drive of the country.
“The opportunity created by the meeting is a new beginning in our quest for industrial recovery and creation of jobs for our teeming youths as well as an opportunity for a new partnership,” Mr Uzodimma said.
Modupe Gbadeyanka