The BUA Group has said on Monday that it has engaged the services of Gherzi Textile Organisation, a Swiss firm, for the development of an integrated textile and garment cluster in Kastina state.
A food and infrastructure conglomerate, the company said in a statement that the investment is part of the group’s efforts to generate “over 25,000 jobs and make the moribund textile industry viable again in Nigeria.”
Group executive director, Kabiru Rabiu, quoted in the statement, explained that the Swiss firm, Gherzi was contracted because of its “proven track record and vast expertise of textile mills and apparel parks worldwide.”
Mr Rabiu also said the company had successfully undertaken and executed hundreds of textile and apparel parks in over 70 countries for public, private and international institutions.
The statement released by BUA’s spokesperson, O’tega Ogra, said “As part of our plans to contribute to the revival of the textile industry, we partnered with the Swiss firm, Ghezi, which was established in 1929 because they are arguably the most experienced textile consulting company in the world today.
“It is our firm belief that for Nigeria to really diversify her economy, large corporates like BUA have to play an active role in coming up with initiatives and investments in sectors that would have a maximum impact on the economy, while the government at both states and federal levels provide all the necessary support to make them work.
“Nigeria used to have the largest textile industry in Sub-sahara Africa in the 1960s and 1980s when the industry played a dominant role in boosting the economy, contributing prominently to country’s gross domestic product, GDP.
“Today however, the sector that used to be the largest employer of labour after the federal government, contributes less than two percent to the economy.”
BUA said in a bid to revive the sector, Nigeria as a country must try to be competitive by “replicating what other countries with thriving textile industries have done, which is to have a sound policy and incentives on the part of the government, basic infrastructure as well as strong supply chain from cotton production to processing, all the way to distribution to the market.”
