Nigeria now pays upwards of ₦1 trillion a year for importing fabrics and garments even as the local cotton growers and mills that can meet much of that demand, fight for survival.
The mismatch between local output and foreign supply is evident in the numbers. Textile imports doubled from ₦377.47 billion in 2023 to ₦726.18 billion in 2024, then topped ₦1 trillion in 2025.
A further ₦578.51 billion arrived in the first six months of 2026, increasing dependence on imports.
Over the same stretch, export revenue slipped in 2025 to ₦16.55 billion from ₦36.98 billion the year before, per NBS data.
Reliance on foreign supply has laid bare the price of several decades of industrial erosion. Domestic manufacturers are being squeezed, the outlet for homegrown lint is shrinking, and a vast consuming population is increasingly clothed by producers abroad.
Amid these figures, the Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Forum (CTGDF) has asked the federal government to safeguard textile and cotton-processing plants that remain viable but face receivership, while still recouping genuine public loans.
The forum’s blueprint is a 12-month industrial asset preservation and recovery protocol. It would open with a 90-day nationwide audit of troubled plants, deciding which should be rehabilitated, restructured, passed to credible operators, or wound down in an orderly fashion.
The appeal arrives as ministers revive plans for a Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Board, designed to steer the sector’s recovery from field to finished garment, taking in ginning and fabric production along the way.
Operators and investors will be asking whether this institutional design can overcome the weaknesses that sank earlier rescue attempts. One such effort was the ₦100 billion Cotton, Textile and Garment Fund, introduced in 2009 and administered by the Bank of Industry.
Even so, the industry kept contracting, many plants stayed dark, and domestic cotton output remained far below its historic peak.
The fallout reaches well beyond factory gates. A feeble textile base narrows the market open to cotton growers, trims demand for ginning and related processing, and curbs jobs in manufacturing, distribution and garment-making.
It also means more of what Nigerians spend on textiles leaves the country instead of circulating through local farms and plants.
Output has weakened too. NBS figures put the value attributed to the cotton, textile and garment industry at ₦4.548 trillion in 2023, ₦4.476 trillion in 2024 and ₦4.384 trillion in 2025, a fall of roughly ₦164 billion across two years.
These numbers point to a lasting erosion of industrial strength. Nigeria once boasted about 180 textile mills, sustained by large workforces and cotton growers.
Trade reports now suggest fewer than 20 are still running, and utilisation is low. The CTGDF reckons around 180 factories have closed and that imports meet some 90% of demand.
The damage is most conspicuous in long-established textile centres such as Kaduna and Kano. Industry sources say that 11 mills in Kaduna formerly gave work to more than 50,000 people, yet only a thin remnant of that base survives.
Several famous Kano mills have likewise vanished after years of heavy running costs, cut-price imports and scarce domestic cotton.
A genuine revival needs more than restarting machinery. It also demands that the agricultural foundation supplying the main raw material be restored.
Cotton production, put at about 300,000 tonnes during the 1980s, is now estimated by the trade at between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes.
“The CTGDF quotes roughly 13,000 tonnes, while other stakeholders suggest around 15,000 tonnes. The estimates differ, yet each confirms a dramatic slump from earlier levels,” Business AM reported.
Grower numbers have reportedly dropped from about 620,000 to around 100,000. Substandard or contaminated seed, poor yields, limited access to modern equipment and insecurity have all made cotton less appealing in several producing areas.
Even where raw material can be found, Nigerian mills carry a punishing cost burden. Erratic grid power obliges many to lean on diesel generators and other back-up sources.
The strain runs through every stage, from spinning and weaving to dyeing, finishing and garment assembly.
Textile manufacturing is power-hungry, and patchy supply can also upset production schedules, lift maintenance bills and depress capacity utilisation.
Mills must then contend with foreign fabrics and clothing entering the market at prices they cannot easily meet.
Stakeholders cite smuggling, fake goods and cheap synthetic fabrics, claiming lax enforcement of trade rules leaves law-abiding domestic operators at a disadvantage.
Quoted comparisons suggest some imported fabric at about ₦1,000 for five yards, whereas local production costs for similar quantities can top ₦5,000.
These are trade assertions rather than a verified like-for-like market survey, but they illustrate the scale of the competitive gap facing domestic producers.
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