President Buhari Stops Importation Of Military And Paramilitary Uniforms
Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on Thursday met with Service Chiefs and Heads of Paramilitary agencies to work out modalities of enforcing President Buhari’s order, stopping further importation of uniforms.
The stoppage was in conformity with Executive Order 003 mandating all Ministries Departments and Agencies to source their textile needs locally.
“Our model in achieving this presidential directive is to facilitate long term contracts (five years or more) with our textile and garment factories to produce uniforms for our armed forces and uniform services using local fabrics and textile materials.
We are not naive of the fact that the nature of your jobs will warrant special quality and security around the production of your wares. My team will work with your nominees toward ensuring requisite quality and security associated with your uniforms. Your nominees will also join our team to inspect the various textiles and garment factories to ensure their readiness to be engaged on long term contracts to forestall breaches” he said.
CBN will work out payment terms that fit budget releases for uniforms for various organisations, he disclosed. Emefiele noted the President’s order was support for CBN’s policy of not funding importation of textile materials again.
He stated that priority placed on the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sector by the apex bank was hinged on the belief that “it has the capacity to transform Nigeria’s rural economy and revive the textile and garment industries by creating over two million jobs, improve internal revenue across three tiers of government, and reduce $4 billion import bill incurred annually on textile and apparel.”