ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) hereby acknowledges the renewed activism of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the fight against smuggling. We are impressed by the recent discovery of 75 illegal warehouses in Kano where contraband textile materials worth about N319.9 billion were stored. We commend the customs for the reported seizure of the smuggled textile materials. We hope that this development is not another passing fad in line with the mood of the country for change but an enduring commitment of Nigeria Customs Service to do its job to protect local producers and help the country to ensure sustainable jobs.

SMUGGLING IS ECONOMIC TERRORISM
The point cannot be overstated. The major threat to the realization of the great potential of Nigeria in textile production is high influx of counterfeit and smuggled goods. Over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s huge market size is dominated by smuggled and counterfeit goods, killing local companies in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Guzau, Aba and Port Harcourt, and millions of direct and indirect associated local jobs. Remarkable too, smuggling denies the government the much needed revenue in unpaid custom duties. According to the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Diko Abdullahi the duty value of the goods in one out of the uncovered 75 warehouses in Kano is N4.2bn. When we add the value duties of all the 75 warehouses, one will appreciate the enormous loss of revenue to the government.

We are reassured by the Comptroller General of Customs’ resolve to prosecute the smugglers including the reported four Chinese nationals linked with the seized contraband textile materials in Kano.

BURN SEIZED CONTRABAND TEXTILE MATERIALS
However all the above efforts will end in vain unless the seized contraband textile materials are BURNT in public like seized drugs otherwise they would find ways to the market thereby defeating the ongoing efforts to curtail smuggling.

PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE
We once again call on President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute Presidential Task Force on destruction of seized textile materials once chaired by the current governor of Kaduna State Mallam Nasir Ahmed El Rufai. The task force should include all critical stakeholders including labour. This is necessary in order to protect and strengthen our domestic textile industries and save Nigerians’ job. If we combine the fight against smuggling with uninterrupted supply of electricity, long term cheap fund through the bank of Industry (BOI) and government patronage of locally produced textiles (school uniforms, police and customs uniforms), there is no doubt that textile industry in the fullest of time will come back.

Signed
Issa Aremu, mni
GENERAL SECRETARY
National Union of Textile Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN)