NEPC Tasks Textile Manufacturers On Market Potentials

The Nigerian Export
Promotion Council (NEPC) has tasked textile and apparel manufacturers to take advantage of business and investment potentials from the global market.
The Managing Director, NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, explained that it is imperative for the Nigerian textile industry to brace up to take a market share in the global market  with  huge  opportunities.
The Managing Director stated this at a stakeholders  forum  of garments, textile and apparel producers tagged “Harnessing the export potential of the Nigerian apparel  and garment sector”, held in Lagos, recently.
He was represented by the Acting Zonal  Controller NEPC, Lagos, Mrs Evelyn Obidike who stressed that the present  administration has launched  the Nigeria cotton,  textile and garment policy to boost the sector.
The NEPC boss said the global market for textile and apparel is expected to expand  drastically, stressing that  it is going to be a challenging market full of risks  and unbelievable opportunities.
He called on the  industry’s  stakeholders to take cognizance  of skills, competences and key trends to avoid pitfalls,  stressing that the council is fully committed to providing necessary assistance for the sector to thrive and increase export as the country has the comparative advantage  to increase export of textile  and apparels.
The NEPC boss explained that the adoption of agreement in textile and clothing (ATC) by World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995 has removed quotas  on textile and clothing among WTO members which included Nigeria.
Awolowo said that the forum  was designed to engage in  discourse that will assist  both the council and stakeholders to proffer strategies that will enhance the export of Nigerian textile and apparel, stressing that the country’s textiles and garment industry if given the necessary  attention will be one of the game  changers for the nation’s export drive.
He said NEPC’s effort have been geared towards providing direct assistance to the textile and garment sector, stressing that one of such intervention was the establishment of human capital development centre in Lagos to enhance capacity of the players in the garment industry.
He bemoaned the position of the economically developed countries to have imposed high tariffs and quantitative restruction on export of textile and clothing from less economically developed countries to their countries.
Awolowo  assured textiles and garment stakeholders of the council continuous support.