Nigeria, China sign deal on cotton industry

Nigeria and a Chinese firm have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on first-ever cotton value chain
industry, worth two billion US dollars.

 

The Minister of Industry, Trade and
Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, unveiled the deal in Abuja where he
said the agreement was signed with Shandong Ruyi International Fashion
Industry.

 

The minister explained that the agreement
would involve cotton growing to ginning, spinning, textile manufacture
and garment in Katsina, Kano, Abia and Lagos States.

 

“Their investments will comprise
aggregation and off take of cotton from farmers for ginning, spinning
and weaving and manufacturing at least 300 million metres of African
print, which will meet 20 per cent of West Africa’s demand.

 

“Others are producing cotton and denim
garments for export and local consumption by Ruyi Group in Abia, Lagos
and Kano states,” Enelamah said.

 

He added that in China, President Xi
Jinping promised to open China’s market for agricultural products from
Nigeria, based on trade negotiating engagements by Nigeria’s Trade
Negotiators.

 

Enelamah said for industrialisation, the
government was aggressively implementing the Nigeria Industrial
Revolution Plan (NIRP) by establishing the Nigeria Industrial Policy and
Competitiveness Advisory Council.

 

He said the focus would be on five high
priority areas: policy and regulation, trade and markets, critical
infrastructure , skills , capacity building and lastly financing.

 

Enelamah said that the government had
begun the establishment and upgrading of some existing industrial parks
to world-class special economic zones (SEZs), across the six
geo-political zones in the country.

 

According to him, for the Agreement
Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), there is a
serious ongoing technical work to strengthen Nigeria’s Trade Policy
Infrastructur