N70bn textile revival fund ready soon

Sola Fadare, Lagos

Charles Ugwu,
Minister of CommerceThe long awaited N70 billion textile revival fund may be made available in the next four weeks according to the disclosure made recently by the Managing Director of the Nigeria Export-Import Bank, (NEXIM), Alhaji Baba Yusuf. The fund was approved by the last administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to revamp the ailing textile industry.

The Federal government has in line with that granted the textile companies in the country five years tax holiday, which, according to Yusuf would generate over one million jobs when the companies are fully revived. The NEXIM MD also added that textile industries would be able to access the fund, soon, saying a full fledged textile revival department has been established in the bank to ensure a successful revival of the sector. He said not a single kobo would be unnecessarily diverted from the fund, which will now be provided by the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

“In 2006, the Federal Government mandated First Bank and NEXIM Bank to provide the N70 billion textile revival funds, however, under the new arrangement; UBA will provide the fund in form of commercial loan with five years repayment period with single digit interest rate.” Explaining in details how the fund would be accessed so that the objective of resuscitating the sector could be fully realized, Yusuf revealed that “Seven weeks ago, we entered into an agreement with UBA to access the fund within 12 weeks so that textile companies will be able to obtain the fund within five weeks. NEXIM has carried out an appraisal of the benefiting textile industries to ensure effective funding if the revival. We will visit all parts of the country ahead of the disbursement of the fund.

Commenting on the news of the release of the fund, an official of a textile company in Marina Lagos, who preferred anonymity told the Nigerian Tribune that the industries would have to wait for the Bank to carry out its plan because their hopes were once raised in the past and nothing was done about it. In another development, the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN) has warned the Federal Government against what it called uncritical commitment to the implementation of the Common External Tariff of between zero to 20 per cent for the member state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Union stated this in a communiqué issued at the end of its National Delegates Conference held in Abuja and made available to the newsmen. The Union in the document signed by its President, Reginald Agulanna and Secretary General, Issa Aremu respectively, cautioned the FG of the CET for the ECOWAS member states could hamper the nation’s already decimated industrial base.

Consumers berate PHCN over power outages

Sola Fadare, Lagos

ELECTRICITY consumers in Festac, Lagos State, has berated Power Holding Company of Nigeria for the incessant power outages and alleged misconduct by its officials. The angry consumers, in a peaceful protest at the Oshodi Business District of PHCN expressed dissatisfaction with the unusual way the utility company handleds their issues of ailing transformer in the recent past. The co-ordinator of the Festac Extension Youth Association, Mr. Stanislus Uzodimma Azubuike told The Guardian that the estate has been thrown into darkness for more than three weeks, due to breakdown of the only transformer that serves the area. Headded that efforts by the community to get PHCN to restore the transformer has proved abortive.

His words, “the peaceful protest became necessary because, the estate has been thrown into perpetual black out for three weeks running due to breakdown of the only transformer available. Four out of the five transformers we inherited from the Festac 77 have been stolen by the PHCN officials on the pretence of repairing them. We therefore want the PHCN to provide us with three functional transformers so as to avoid incessant power outages caused by overloading. Azubuike said the company has betrayed the trust have in them by the community, claiming that PHCN officials have since 1995 been coming to evacuate the transformers one after the other, without any replacement.

The blackout, he said is affecting about 22 blocks in the estate including the small-scale businesses in the area, which now have to switch to generating set as an alternative source of power. He explained further that the capacity of the damaged transformer is too low to meet the power demand of the network. Therefore he pleaded with the company to either give them new transformers that can meet the demand or return the long evacuated ones.