Nigerian industry stakeholders estimate the country loses up to N530bn each year to textile imports, and they are pressing the federal government to revive domestic manufacturing rather than continue absorbing that outflow.

The warning came from sector participants speaking to Arise News, who framed the figure as the measurable cost of a collapsed local supply base. Nigeria once ran one of West Africa's largest textile manufacturing sectors. Today, import competition and chronic operational constraints have shuttered most of that capacity, leaving apparel buyers and uniform procurement programmes sourcing finished fabric from abroad.

What are stakeholders asking for?

The stakeholders demanded a coordinated textile industry revival. Their case rests on the scale of the annual import bill — up to N530bn — and on the jobs and factory throughput that domestic production could recapture.

For sourcing teams, the demand signals pressure on government to tighten import policy or expand local-content requirements. Either move would affect landed costs and supplier qualification for anyone sourcing textiles into the Nigerian market.

Why does the N530bn figure matter for sourcing?

An annual import bill of that size represents demand that local mills could, in principle, serve. Stakeholders argue the loss is structural: every naira spent on imported fabric is a naira denied to Nigerian spinning, weaving, finishing and garmenting operations.

The revival argument also carries a jobs dimension. Textile manufacturing is labour-intensive, and stakeholders tied the industry's decline to lost factory employment across the value chain.

What decision does this force?

Sourcing managers and compliance leads with Nigerian exposure should watch for policy responses: tariff adjustments, import restrictions or incentives aimed at local mills. Any of those would change the cost calculation between imported and domestically produced fabric.

Until government acts, importers continue to face the status quo. Stakeholders have put the number on the table — up to N530bn a year — and the sourcing decision now is whether to begin qualifying Nigerian capacity ahead of any policy shift, or wait and absorb whatever import-cost changes follow.