Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola yesterday lamented the failure of the nation’s textile industries, urging the Federal Government to revive the sector as way of boosting jobs creation and expanding the country’s economy.
The governor who Spoke at the third Renaissance Capital Pan- African conference in Lagos also denied the rumour that the state governors were opposed to the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Fashola regretted that the textile industry which used to be an important component for the revitalisation of the nation’s economy had been allowed to remain in comatose condition.
He said the industry was too important to be ignored , urging appropriate government’s interventions and the private sector investments in the labour-intensive industry to revamp it.
According to him, “The textile sector of the Nigerian economy used to account for a large number of workers and was successfully run in the past.
`I know Lagos had at least two of them while Kano had many. Unfortunately only very few of them are still around. If we revive these textile industries, they would help a great deal to boost our economy` `.
The governor who suggested investment in new technology to revamp the sector, stressed that the employment of obsolete technology was partially responsible for the near collapse of the industry and? called for more investment in knowledge and capacity building of workers, saying this was central to the successful running of the industry.