Nigeria is taking steps to revive the textile industry. Forex for textile traders has been banned. A gas tariff for textiles has been approved but is yet to come into full operation. Problems plaguing the Nigerian textile industry include: lack of sufficient electricity supply, counterfeiting and smuggling, among others. A major problem is cost of energy. One suggestion is to set up a textile task force to combat smuggling of textiles and fix a minimum value for textiles coming into Nigeria.

Stagnated by unchecked smuggling and dilapidated infrastructure in the mid ’80s and early ’90s the Nigerian textile industry used to have about 95 companies. The sector was one of Nigeria’s largest and oldest manufacturing sectors and rated third in Africa behind Egypt and South Africa.

Nigeria aims at producing up to 4,50,000 metric tons of cotton in three years. This is part of an effort to revive the textile and garment industry. Up to 3,00,000 farmers will be engaged to achieve this aim in 26 out of the 36 states of the country. Six thousand metric tons of cotton seed have been imported and an additional 2000 metric tons have been sourced locally. The total expected yield at the end of the current season is 3,02,440 metric tons.