Government fund will reach textile industry
31/03/2008
The Nigerian government has insisted that a fund it started last year to fund new investment in the textile manufacturing industry there will become available to companies in the sector soon.
It announced the move to spend $600 million on a "resuscitation fund" for the industry last year, but so far none of the money has reached companies in the sector, prompting some observers to suggest it may have gone into other areas of government spending.
But the minister of commerce and industry, Charles Ugwuh, has said that the money would begin to reach textile companies before the end of April. The fund will provide loans to textile industry operators at low interest rates. The government hopes the measure will help protect 30,000 jobs in the textile industry, 750,000 livelihoods in the cotton production industry and create 200,000 new jobs in both the textile and cotton industries.
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