By Adesola Adegoke
UNIDO Country Representative in Nigeria and Director of Regional Office,  Mr.  Masayoshi   Matsushaai   has disclosed that industries in the country have lost their market by 90 per cent to products from foreign firms.

This has lead to reduction of workforces from 300,000 in the year 1980 to 24,000 in the year 2010.

He disclosed this during the official presentation of Technical reports on Textiles and Government  Industry Sector in Nigeria , Industrial Energy Efficiency a case study of Companies in Nigeria , Counterfeiting and Smuggling of Manufacture  production in Nigeria and Report of the 2008 OPS Quarterly meeting in his office in Abuja .

“Due to the penetration of foreign industries into the Nigerian market, industries which had enjoyed 300,000   workforces in 1980 have lost their market by 90% while employment in the sector had declined to 24,000 employees. It indicates that within the space of 30 years, 276,000 employees had been laid off,” he said.