My priority is to create more jobs ― Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that the priority of his administration “is to create as many jobs as possible.”

He made the declaration at an audience with the National Executive Council of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers led by its President, Comrade John Adaji, at the State House, Abuja on Tuesday.

The President recalled that in the last four years, the Federal Government deployed limited resources to job-creating sectors like agriculture and mining.

According to a statement issued by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), while lamenting the closure of textile factories especially in the North which he said gave rise to crimes, he said,m: “We promoted policies that will support local industries such as import restrictions. We introduced programmes that provided affordable and accessible capital to both large and cottage industries.”

He added that, “We also introduced Executive Orders that encouraged the procurement of Made in Nigeria goods and services.”

According to the President, his administration would continue to support the above policies and programmes in the years ahead, stressing: “We will not allow Nigeria to return to the days of exporting jobs through the importation of food and clothing items which can be produced locally. We owe this to the over 200 million Nigerians.”

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The President noted that the textile and garment sector has the potential to create millions of jobs and will, therefore, remain one of the priority sectors for the administration.

Referring to his recent directive to all Government uniformed institutions to use locally produced garments, President Buhari said an unbelievable number of jobs will be created when the military, police, para-military organisations including the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), fully patronise local industries.

He urged State Governments to buy into this policy for their schools, hospitals and other institutions.

On the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which Nigeria recently signed, President Buhari said, “We have developed a comprehensive strategy to fully optimise the benefits” with necessary safeguards in place. He stressed that “Our priority remains to create jobs in Africa for Africans using a large proportion of African raw materials.”

Speaking on behalf of the Union, the General Secretary, Comrade Issa Aremu, commended President Buhari for being the first Nigerian leader to grant the 41-year-old body an audience and making the revival of the textile industry a campaign topic.

Bemoaning the closure of hundreds of textile factories which used to employ “millions of workers more than the workforce of the Federal Government in the 70s and 80s,” he also saluted the textile-friendly policies of the administration such as the interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Executive Order on the use of local garments by uniformed organisations among others.

Pledging to support the administration to “keep our youths out of the streets,” the Union urged that the incidence of smuggling be checked in order to maximise the job-creating benefits of the textile industry.

President Buhari was decorated as the Life Patron of the Union in appreciation of his textile-friendly efforts.