‘N100bn intervention not bailing collapsed textiles’
The N100 billion Cotton Textile and Garment (CTG) bailout fund by the Federal Government is not meeting the expectations of stakeholders in the industry five years after its launch, Daily Trust has gathered.
The fund, managed by the Bank of Industry (BoI) for onward disbursement to the ailing and outright collapsed mills and cotton producers, has done very little to revive the sector.
According to a Kaduna-based Coalition of Closed Unpaid Textiles Workers, since the endowment of the fund in 2009, none of the shut factories has been brought back to life fully.
Speaking through its chairman, Comrade Wordom Simdik, at their quarterly meeting in Kaduna, the coalition said it is surprising that for several years now, since the bailout fund was provided, no tangible result has been achieved.
He said companies that desperately needed the money to inject life into their factories and commence operations never got the money except one or two textiles that are still only partly operating.
“In a situation where an intervention fund for the revival The nation’s power supply will drop by 415megawatts as Afam Power Plant in Rivers State shuts down for 10 days for routine maintenance on its feeder gas station, the Okoloma Gas Plant.
A statement by the of the collapsed textile mills was instituted by the government and the conditions for accessing the money is unfavourable to the same factories for which the money was provided is pure contradiction,” the coalition said over the weekend.
The coalition also lamented the neglect of the shut textile companies by owners, government and other stakeholders.
The National President of the Nigerian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, recently condemned the handling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at the weekend said this will lead to a drop in the quantity of power available for transmission to Distribution companies (Discos). This will result in nationwide loadshedding for 10 days, from 6am, Sunday, July 20, to Wednesday, bailout fund for the textile sector.
According to him, it seems that the fund is either misapplied or misappropriated by the beneficiaries. “If this is found to be so, it will be a very embarrassing and disheartening development that calls for thorough investigation.”
But the Bank of Industry said about 60 billion of the CTG fund has been disbursed to various beneficiaries under the scheme.
“Over 60% has been committed to 52 companies in the Cotton, Textile and Garment Industry as July 30, 2014, it added.
“It is however expected that the power plant will commence generation on Thursday, July, 31st, 2014, when gas supply from Okoloma gas plant would have resumed,” the statement read in part.
The transmission company at March, 2013. The re-opening of United Nigeria Textiles Limited in Kaduna is one of the numerous positive impacts of this scheme,” the bank said in its website.
A mid-term evaluation of the CTG industry commissioned by BOI/UNIDO to evaluate the impact of the scheme reveals that: “Over 8,070 jobs had been saved through the intervention, adding that capacity utilization for most beneficiaries has increased from below 40% to about 61% at the time over 50% of those making losses has started reporting profits.” said it regrets the inconvenience to electricity consumers nationwide.
The grid supply has dropped significantly in June due to similar shutdown of Omotosho, Egbin and other plants for 21 days between June 2 and 21 due to routine maintenance operations on the Ughelli Gas Station that feeds gas to the affected plants.