Nigeria has been producing traditional hand-designed textile products for centuries. But preservers of this ancient art say cheap Chinese imports made in a modern way are driving Nigeria’s traditional textile industry to extinction.
The Kofar Mata dyeing pit in Kano is one of the last remaining sites in Nigeria where hand-dyed textile products are made.
Weaver Mamood Abubakar has been making traditional fabrics with natural dyes for the past 70 years.
But he fears for the future of the industry.
This place has been around for more than 500 years,” says Abubakar. Arabs, whites, and people from all over Africa have come here because the industry is not small. We anticipate that young people should want to get into it and replace us when we’re gone.”
But the designers say that cheap, Chinese-made products mean that locally produced textiles have become commercially unsustainable.
Not far from the Kofa Mata dyeing pit is one of Nigeria’s largest textile markets, the Kantin Kwari textile market in Kano.
Ismaila Abdullahi, a weaver, says, “The progress we have made in this business is that we now have our own pattern designers who can draw designs and send them to China to make textiles and send them back to us.”
The Nigerian Textile Manufacturers’ Association (NTMA) says the decrease in locally made textiles is due to Chinese textile imports. They claim that Chinese textile imports are often smuggled.
Hamma Kwajaffa, director general of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers’ Association, said, “They take our designs, go to China to produce them, and then sell them cheaply. They sell five feet of this (fabric) for 1,000 naira (about $2.60), and our factories can’t produce it for less than 3,000 naira,” says Hamma Kwajaffa, director general of the Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. Because these smugglers don’t employ workers, pay taxes, or add any value, they can afford to sell it cheaply.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria said in October that it has provided more than $300 million in loans to cotton producers in recent years to help the domestic textile industry. Nigeria once had the largest textile industry in Africa.
In 2017, Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who acts as president, ordered the government to prioritize purchasing Nigerian-made uniforms and footwear over imported products.
But the Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Nigeria (UGTGWU) says the policy needs to be broadened.
John Adaji, president of the Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Nigeria, said, “The textile policy in South Africa is very simple: ‘Buy from South Africa, wear from South Africa. They have a tax team that enforces that policy. So it’s the government. The government has to show that it’s pro-business.”
Artisan Abubakar says that if the government wants these traditional Nigerian textiles to survive, it should buy their handmade textiles and export them to the world.
Recent Comments