The Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Ms Evelyn Oputu, has said that 60 per cent of the bank’s N100 billion Textile Revival Fund has been disbursed to the beneficiaries.

Oputu told newsmen in Addis Ababa that the revival scheme has started yielding results as it has recreated 25,000 jobs, and sustained some others that would have been lost to closure of more textile factories.

She said the application of the fund has also been expanded to cover all production activities, including garment in addition to cotton production and processing as well as ginnery and printing in spite of the security challenges faced in parts of the country where some of these factories are located.

The decline in cotton lint production from 98,000 in 2006 to 55,000 tonnes in 2010 and export of cotton went down from $44 million to $31 million within the same period, which added to the already existing challenges facing the sector. Records further indicated that capacity utilisation in the industry dwarfed to 20.14 per cent in 2010 from 50.75 per cent in 2003 while many surviving ones are close to extinction.

Oputu, who is attending the 20th Anniversary and Annual General Meeting of Africa Export-Import Bank in Addis Ababa, however, said the Nigerian textile industry “is bouncing back and will soon explode”, adding that Nigeria like other African countries, is facing challenges of infrastructure deficit.