By Providence Obuh

Stakeholders in Textile Sector, weekend, called on the Federal Government to patronise made in Nigeria fabrics even as Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) called for an enabling environment for the sector to thrive. The stakeholders made the call at a One-Day Capacity Building Workshop organised by NEPC for stakeholders in the Garment and Apparel Sector on the “Opportunities in the Rising Global Market” in Lagos.

The stakeholders maintained that government patronage, provision of enabling environment and the availability of necessary infrastructures would reduce unemployment and create more jobs for the populace.

In a separate interview,  President, Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) Mrs. Funmi Ladipo, stated: “manufacturing is going on in other countries but we  are not encouraged to manufacture in Nigeria, our textile industries are dead, we don’t even have a production hub.

“A designer is not suppose to start a job and finish it, it is not suppose to be so, what people do is to take cloths to the production hub. If we have production hubs in almost all the states, then fabrics can be mass produced and that is when we can now encourage fashion.