NewzDouglas Baye-Osagie It is sobering to see the Vice President of Nigeria lead a team of Governors to the Benin Republic to study the operations of a textile mill. Vice President Shettima flew into Cotonou, and pictures from his official verified Facebook page, Kashim Shettima, on 24th July 2026 carried a sentence: “drawing practical lessons from Benin’s approach to agricultural value chain.” The images tell a story we should not be telling in 2026. Not long ago, the story was reversed.
The textile industry provided millions of jobs for Nigerians across different classes. There was a time in the 70s, 80s and 90s when the world came to Nigeria for textiles. Our markets were full of “Made in Nigeria” fabrics.
We had functional textile mills across the country. At its peak, the industry was the largest employer of labour after government. It provided jobs for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians directly.
It also supported hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers across many states. From the farm, to the ginnery, to the mill, to the tailor, to the market. Kaduna was then called the “Textile City” of Africa.
If you lived there, you could hear the hum of machines in the morning. Entire neighbourhoods grew around the factories. The convergence of Nigerians in Kaduna was largely because of the booming cotton factories.
Young men left their states to seek a start to life. Adams Oshiomhole began their humble rise in the textile industry back then in Kaduna State. He was a factory worker before he became a union leader, then Governor, then Senator.
Summary from source