Kaduna
The Forum of Directors of Sports in Nigeria has urged the federal government to deploy the moneys recovered from looters in reviving the moribund textile industry to create hundreds of thousands jobs for youths.
Chairman of the Forum and Kwara state Director of Sports, Mr. Tunde Kasim, said “creating jobs for the teeming youth will reduce insecurity by curbing restiveness and vices.”
He added that reviving the various textile companies across the country by providing them with bailouts and other incentives “will have huge direct impact on the economy of the country and Nigerians.”
Speaking yesterday at the Labour House office of the Nigeria Textile Workers in Kaduna after visiting the Kaduna Textiles Limited, Kasim, who lamented the sorry state of the company, urged the federal and state governments to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods.
According to him, buying made-in-Nigeria goods will help improve the nation’s economy as the wealth will circulate.
“The loots recovered by the federal government should be put in to reviving textile factories in the country. Bailout funds should be used to sustain the textile companies. The revival of the textile companies will lead to job opportunities for many youths in the country and reduce the high number unemployment in the country.
“We visited the Kaduna Textiles expecting to meet some workers at work but we were disappointed to meet the company in a sorry state. The factory was not very palatable. We have thousands of youths across the country unemployed, if the industry that can employ close to 500,000 workers goes moribund, what is the hope of our youths? The factories should be revived to create jobs for our youths.
“We are advocates of made in Nigeria goods, we want to canvass for the Federal and state governments to patronise made in Nigeria goods to help our economy grow,” he said.
The General Secretary, National Union of Textiles Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, said the textile and sports industry need to have a mutual relationship to help each other.
“We need each other; some of our factories can produce sports wears so you can patronise them. Instead of you buying sports wears from China, Malaysia, you can buy from Nigeria, save foreign exchange and boost our economy.”
