Nigeria’s textile, apparel and footwear manufacturers operated at just 53.05% of installed capacity in 2025, leaving nearly half of the sector’s productive potential idle and underscoring a deepening structural crisis in what was once one of the country’s largest industrial employers. Read Here
Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics data show capacity utilisation edged up from 50.72% in 2024 to 53.05% last year, but stayed below 55% throughout the period. Quarterly readings fluctuated within a narrow band, starting at 52.07% in the first quarter, rising to 54.99% in the second, slipping to 52.01% in the third and recovering to 53.12% by year-end, reflecting an industry unable to break decisively out of its slump.
The stagnation comes as import dependence has surged. Foreign fabrics and textile materials now account for roughly 99% of Nigeria’s domestic market, with import bills climbing 181% over two years to 1.08 trillion naira in 2025 from 377.47 billion naira in 2023. First-quarter 2026 figures point to further acceleration, up 153.2% from the same period a year earlier. Exports have moved in the opposite direction, falling 11.8% in 2025 and dropping 55% from a 2024 peak, widening the sector’s trade imbalance.
The figures have intensified debate in Nigeria’s Senate, which in June passed a resolution urging the federal government to impose an outright ban on textile imports. The motion, sponsored by Senator Sunday Katung and backed by several colleagues, called for increased Bank of Industry funding for local manufacturers and stronger support for cotton farming to rebuild the domestic supply chain. Lawmakers invoked the industry’s 1970s and 1980s heyday, when roughly 167 mills operated nationwide and employed nearly 500,000 workers directly, centred on Kaduna’s textile hub.
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Industry advocates have pushed back against an immediate prohibition. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise warned that a blanket ban could put up to 17 trillion naira in economic activity and about 10 million jobs at risk across downstream industries that rely on imported materials. Its chief executive, Muda Yusuf, argued the measure would treat symptoms rather than causes, and urged alternatives including cheaper energy, modernised machinery, tighter border enforcement, expanded financing access and procurement preferences for domestic producers.
Economists including Adesoji Adesugba, a former managing director of the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, have echoed the caution, saying existing mills lack the capacity to meet domestic demand and that removing imports too quickly risks shortages, price spikes and increased smuggling.
The Nigerian Fashion Council has separately called for infrastructure and standards investment to accompany any policy shift, noting the domestic fashion market is valued at more than $6.8 billion and projected to approach $10 billion in coming years. With capacity utilisation still hovering near the midpoint of installed potential, the outcome of the import-ban debate is likely to shape whether Nigeria’s textile sector can reverse a three-decade decline or continue ceding ground to Asian imports.