Nigeria's Senate has called for sweeping action to protect and rebuild the country's textile sector. The upper chamber is asking the federal government to impose an outright ban on the importation of foreign textile materials. The move is framed as part of efforts to revive Nigeria's struggling textile industry and to stimulate local cotton production, two goals that lawmakers see as closely linked.
Beyond the proposed import ban, the Senate set out a broader demand for government intervention. It called on the federal government, working through the Ministries of Agriculture and of Trade and Investments, to take urgent steps to resuscitate textile manufacturing across the country. The chamber pointed in particular to the Kaduna-Kano industrial corridor as a focus for that revival effort.
Lawmakers tied the appeal directly to the country's economic and social challenges. They cited the textile sector's potential to create jobs and to help address rising youth unemployment and insecurity. In doing so, the Senate presented the revival of the industry not merely as an economic question but as part of a wider response to pressures facing young Nigerians.
The resolutions emerged from a formal legislative process. They followed the adoption of a motion titled Urgent Need to Revive the Textile Industries in Nigeria, with particular reference to the Kaduna-Kano Axis. The wording of the motion underscored both the urgency the lawmakers attached to the issue and the central place of the northern industrial belt in their thinking.
The motion drew support from across the chamber. It was sponsored by Senator Sunday Marshall Katung and co-sponsored by several lawmakers who came from different parties and regions. That cross-party and cross-regional backing pointed to a degree of consensus on the need to act, even in a chamber where divisions are often sharp.
Lawmakers also looked back at the industry's history during the debate. They recalled that the textile industry was established in Kaduna in 1957, a development that later spread to other regions. Over time, it contributed significantly to industrial growth and to employment generation, a legacy that supporters of the motion invoked as they argued for its revival.
In supporting the motion, senators set out what they wanted the government to achieve. They underlined the need for deliberate government intervention to restore the industry's competitiveness, boost local production, reduce dependence on imports, and create sustainable employment opportunities for Nigerians. Taken together, the resolutions amount to a call for the state to take a far more active role in rebuilding a sector the Senate considers vital.