Idakwo Warns Cotton Shortage Threatens Nigeria’s Textile Industry Revival

Nigeria risks trying to rebuild its textile industry without enough cotton to keep it running. Domestic output has fallen below 10,000 metric tonnes a year, down from about 300,000 tonnes at the sector’s peak.

The collapse has left many of the country’s 26 ginneries operating far below capacity or completely idle. Textile factories are also struggling with inadequate raw materials, while the government’s revival plan aims to restore an industry that once played a major role in the economy.

Eneojo Idakwo, managing director of Market Hub Media Limited, said Nigeria could become more dependent on imported textile inputs even as the federal government pursues import substitution and domestic manufacturing. He said the country had already lost two planting seasons without interventions large enough to reverse the decline.

“

The future of Nigeria’s CTG sector is no longer defined by whether revival is necessary. There is broad consensus that it is both necessary and urgent.

Idakwo described the situation as a breakdown across the entire Cotton, Textile and Garment value chain. Agricultural production has weakened while policymakers seek to rebuild manufacturing, creating a contradiction at the base of the industrialization strategy.

“The future of Nigeria’s CTG sector is no longer defined by whether revival is necessary. There is broad consensus that it is both necessary and urgent,” Idakwo said. He added that the dispute now concerned how the effort should be coordinated and what institutional structure should lead it.

The debate follows an April 2025 National Economic Council approval for a Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Board to be based in the presidency. The proposed body would bring together private-sector representatives, several federal ministries, governors from the six geopolitical zones and other stakeholders. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has pursued a separate model for managing the sector.

“

The real issue is how that revival should be coordinated. The disagreement is less about the destination than the institutional architecture required to get there.