Unfortunately Nigeria’s apparel textile industry continues its downward trend. In a July 2009 interview Mr. Sodhi Navdeep, UNIDO Consultant on textile and international trade, gave to Vanguard Nigeria, he chronicled the continued woes of the textile industry:
Employment
1985 =200,000
2009 = 24,000
Textile Mills
1985 = 175
2009 = 25 (all of whom operate way below production capacity)
Cotton Production
World = increase from 20 to 27 million
Africa = drop from 1.8 million to 1.5 tons
The Nigeria Textile industry also continues to report increased smuggling of counterfeit goods from China to Nigeria.