CPPE warns textile import ban threatens Nigeria's fashion, furniture sectors
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) warned that the Senate's resolution to ban textile fabric imports would harm Nigeria's broader fashion, garment, furniture and creative economy rather than revive the textile sector. CPPE said the fashion and garment sector is conservatively valued at about ₦10 trillion and supports roughly ten million Nigerians, while the furniture and interior design sector is worth an estimated ₦7 trillion. Both rely heavily on imported textile fabrics as intermediate inputs. An outright import ban would disrupt supply chains, raise production costs, limit consumer choice and threaten thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises engaged in tailoring, design and retail. The think‑tank argued that the decline of Nigeria's textile industry stems from structural constraints—high energy costs, expensive credit, poor infrastructure, logistics bottlenecks, obsolete technology, smuggling, weak access to long‑term finance and policy inconsistency—not from import competition. Existing tariffs already impose a combined Import Duty and Import Adjustment Tax of 35‑45 percent on imported fabrics, yet local mills cannot meet the volume, quality and variety demanded by downstream industries. CPPE urged a value‑chain strategy: require government agencies to procure locally made textiles for uniforms; create a Textile Competitiveness Fund financed by a share of textile‑related import revenues to fund technology upgrades and single‑digit financing; revive cotton production through better seeds, mechanisation, extension services, security and guaranteed off‑take; strengthen border enforcement to curb smuggling; and lower energy, infrastructure and financing costs to improve competitiveness.