Nigeria has launched a renewed national strategy to revive its Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) industry, targeting more than 1.5 million jobs and aiming to rebuild a value chain that has sharply contracted over the past two decades.
The initiative, known as the National Cotton, Textile and Garment Industrial Transformation Programme (NCTG-ITP), is designed to restore end-to-end production from cotton farming and ginning to textile manufacturing and garment assembly, according to government statements.
Officials say the programme is central to Nigeria’s industrial diversification agenda as the country seeks to reduce dependence on oil revenues and rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity.
Minister of State for Industry John Owan Enoh said the revival strategy is anchored on rebuilding confidence in local production and scaling up existing pilot operations.
“From cotton production to finished garments, we are demonstrating that Nigeria can once again produce competitively within its own borders,” Enoh said, according to remarks shared at a stakeholder engagement in Abuja.
The government says early pilot projects have already shown measurable progress, including the production of 10,000 made-in-Nigeria T-shirts within a six-to-seven-month cycle, which officials describe as proof that a functional domestic supply chain can be reactivated.
The broader target of the programme is to generate more than 1.5 million jobs across agriculture, manufacturing, logistics and retail, as the state seeks to rebuild employment in labour-intensive industries.
Policy documents and programme briefings indicate that the strategy will focus on rehabilitating dormant textile mills, expanding cotton farming clusters, and creating industrial hubs designed to attract private investment. It also includes plans to improve access to financing for farmers and manufacturers, a long-standing constraint in the sector.
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Nigeria’s textile industry, once a major employer and export contributor in West Africa, has suffered a prolonged decline due to factory closures, high production costs, inconsistent power supply and competition from imported textiles. Industry stakeholders have also pointed to weak infrastructure and underinvestment in modern machinery as key structural challenges.
The new CTG framework is intended to address these bottlenecks through coordinated reforms across the entire value chain, while encouraging greater private sector participation.
Officials say the revival plan is expected to strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity, reduce reliance on textile imports and potentially boost non-oil export earnings if successfully implemented.
While the government has framed the strategy as a long-term industrial reset, its success will depend on sustained investment, policy continuity and improvements in infrastructure, particularly power supply and transport logistics, which remain critical constraints for manufacturers.
If fully executed, authorities believe the programme could reposition Nigeria as a regional textile manufacturing hub and restore a sector that once played a significant role in the country’s industrial economy.
