By Emeka Mamah

KADUNA – The National Union of Textile and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has commended the governors of the 19 northern states for floating the N20 billion Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation to promote education and agriculture among others.

The union made the commendation in a statement jointly signed by the President and General-Secretary of the union, Messrs Reginald Agulanna and Issa Aremu respectively in Kaduna, weekend.

“We commend the northern governors for this great initiative in memory of the late elder statesman and Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto.

“The best way to honour leaders like Sarduana, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe or Chief Obafemi Awolowo is not just to build monuments but to build from where he stopped.

“One of the legacies of the late Premier was industrial development in the northern Nigeria. He even provided direct grants for the take-off of the Kaduna Textile Limited (KTL). This was followed by the United Textile Limited (UNTL) in 1965. The UNTL, just like KTL, was an integrated spinning, weaving, and spinning mill.

The competition continued such that by the mid 80s, there were more than 200 textile and allied industries in Nigeria with total investment of N30 billion and annual turnover of N20 billion.

“Employment in the textile industry, however, declined from about 200,000 in 1985 to about 24,000 in 2008 and the decline is still unabated.”