By Meletus EZE
The Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadri, has appealed to the Federal Government to relax the tough conditions attached to disbursement of the Textile Intervention Fund.
AjayiKadri made the plea in Lagos on Sunday.He said the appeal became necessary due to the bureaucracy and strict conditions surrounding the allocation of the fund, saying that there was need to revitalise the textile industry.
“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.
“The government had responded in terms of policy initiatives; the primary of which is the Textile Fund anchored by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Ajayi-Kadri said that manufacturers were finding it difficult to benefit from the fund due to some bottlenecks and strict conditions attached to it.
“As a result, we have been in contact and consultations with the CBN on some of these conditions.Our appeal is for the Federal Government to step in and make things a lot easier so that the end point of revitalisation is not lost,’’ the director-general said.
Ajayi-Kadri also urged the government to continue its effort at ensuring provision of basic infrastructure to reduce the cost of production by manufacturers.
He suggested inter-ministerial and inter-departmental cooperation for quick actualisation of the proposed anti- smuggling task force to combat smuggling of textiles.
