A former chairman of the Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Senator Walid Jibrin has said that
Nigeria used to have 175 textiles Industries but now, only about 20 are working.

He said in an interview that due to lack of commitment on the part of some people, the industry that used to be one of the major employers of labour, has been grossly affected.

He said that in Kaduna, the UNTL had 12,000 workers, now it has less than 50 who were mostly security men.

“The former workers are now doing nothing, idleness may increase banditry and other criminal activities,” he said.

“The textiles industries needed many things for survival such as electricity, water from Kaduna river, cotton, etc. Now cotton farmers no longer go to farms especially in Zamfara. That’s a challenge.”

“In Kaduna we used to have 12 textiles, the only one that remains now is Chelco, Funtua textiles is only making bedsheets now.”

“Lack of commitment on the part of some people led to the collapse of the textiles industries. It may not be only the textiles industries that are suffering but we are praying that things will be OK one day,” he said.

He however, threw a challenge to the Northern states Governors to maintain their own textile, the Kaduna Textiles ( KTL) which has been closed for many years throwing many citizens into the unemployment market.