Nigerian exporters have come together to form a fashion training facility. The center has over 150 sewing machines, pattern making and cutting tables. It has the primary objective of promoting garment making skills, creating job opportunities and upgrading technical skills to improve quality, productivity and efficiency levels in the garment industry.

The purpose of the center is to build capacity of Nigerian garment producers in apparel production for the local and export market. Nigeria is awash with creative talents in the fashion industry, whose designs can compete anywhere globally. However, there is a wide gap in production and finishing, which affects the marketability of garments made in Nigeria.

Capacity utilisation in Nigeria’s textile and apparel sector has increased from 29.10 per cent in 2010 to 49.7 per cent in 2011 and is currently 50.2 per cent. The industry is dominated by foreigners, though it harbors various classes of players, individual investors, partnerships and government involvement in the industry. Mills are of all sizes. They have been set up by players from Hong Kong, India, UK, China, Japan and even Colombia.

Nigeria’s textile and apparel industry covers the entire clothing value chain, and has a strong potential for growth due to availability of cotton and the country’s large market-size represented by over 170 million inhabitants, who provide a natural market for textiles and apparels.