• Says Nigeria can build more resilient industrial sector

Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilori

Textile workers and employers as well as labour leaders in the country were in agreement that it is possible for Nigeria to build a more resilient and sustainable industrial sector that drives long-term prosperity.

Speaking at the 36th annual national education conference of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) in conjunction with the Nigerian Textile Garment and Tailoring Employers’ Association (NTGTEA), held on Tuesday at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, they said the feat is possible when there is establishment of clear policies, promotion of innovation and ensuring that economic growth benefits all stakeholders.

The President of the NUTGTWN, Comrade Peters Godonu, who corroborated the view, while speaking on the theme of the conference; Partnership for sustainable industrial development in Nigeria, said that it is important for the government, employers, and labour work together in coordinated and collaborative manner in order to achieve sustainable industrial development in Nigeria and Africa at large.

“Nigeria can build a more resilient and sustainable industrial sector that drives long-term prosperity by
establishing clear policies, promoting innovation, and ensuring that economic growth benefits all stakeholders”, he said.

Both the TUC and the NLC chairmen in Kwara State, Comrades Onikijipa Olayinka and Muritala Olayinka, respectively, spoke in same vein, while urging that workers should be carried along by government in its policies to ensure sustainable industrial sector.

Comrade Godonu, who said that the NUTGTWN is committed to industrial development
in the country, commended the Kwara state government on the establishment of a multi-million Nairagarment factory in Ilorin.

He called on other governors, particularly, in the cotton producing states to emulate the Kwara state governor by promoting value-added manufacturing, “even on the public private partnership basis as a strategy for job creation and wealth generation”.

The labour leader hailed the state governor for his commitment to sustainable industrial development, saying that participants at the conference would have a guided tour of the factory before the end of the conference.

In his speech, the Director General of the MINILS, Comrade Issa Aremu, who was a former General Secretary of the NUTGTWN, described the theme of the conference as apt, saying that nothing can be done alone.

Comrade Aremu, who represented the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said that revival of textile industry is key, adding that importation of fairly used wears, insecurity, electricity power problem, etc are among the challenges bedevilling the industrial sector, especially, textile industry.

He charged the government to protect existing textile factories and bring moribund factories back to operation to ensure job creation and poverty eradication.

“The conference should aim at developing strategies for fostering effective partnership amongst government, industry and labour and identifying the various roles of each of these stakeholders for sustainable industrial development.

“It complements President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda with respect to poverty eradication, economic growth, sustainable industrialisation, job creation, access to capital and improvement of living standard”, he said.