Once the pride of African manufacturing, Nigeria’s textile sector powered hundreds of thousands of jobs, linked cotton farmers to garment factories, and supplied fabrics and clothing locally. In its heyday during the 1970s–1980s, the industry boasted around 180 textile mills - employing well over one million Nigerians directly and indirectly.
Today, however, that landscape lies in ruins. According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria imported ₦726.18 billion worth of textiles in 2024 alone - nearly double
