{"id":450,"date":"2026-07-28T13:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:58:31","slug":"expert-seeks-wider-support-for-indigenous-textiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"Expert seeks wider support for indigenous textiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By Vivian Emoni<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Abuja<\/p>\n<p>An entrepreneur, Ms Omowumi Adesuyi, has called for sustained investment, stronger policies and market access to revitalise Nigeria\u2019s indigenous textile industry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adesuyi, who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Naija Fabric Hub (NFH), said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said the intervention could help preserve Nigeria\u2019s indigenous textile heritage and promote local production.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She commended the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, for donating two billion naira to support the development and preservation of Akwete weaving industry in Abia during her visit to the state.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said that such intervention would help to revive and modernise the historic Akwete weaving industry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to her, the donation is a step toward preserving indigenous fabrics and strengthening local production.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe support recognised Akwete weaving as an important cultural and economic asset with opportunities for employment and enterprise development,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adesuyi, also a member of Nigeria Textile Manufacturers Association, said that Nigeria\u2019s textile industry was once ranked among Africa\u2019s largest employers before experiencing a prolonged decline over the years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said there had been significant reduction in the number of textile mills, employment, cotton production and exports.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said Akwete weaving remained resilient because it preserved traditional skills in spite challenges facing the wider textile industry.<\/p>\n<p>www.primerisenews.com<\/p>\n<p>The NFH founder described Akwete as a women-led industry where weaving skills have been transferred across generations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said the First Lady\u2019s visit to the Abia weaving community demonstrated support for preserving indigenous craftsmanship.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to her, the intervention could encourage more young people to sustain the traditional weaving heritage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndigenous textiles also present opportunities within Africa\u2019s growing fashion industry and international markets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adesuyi said that demand for authentic Nigerian fabrics remained strong among Nigerians in the diaspora, adding that buyers abroad continued to value genuine hand-woven fabrics for cultural ceremonies and special occasions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said that authentic indigenous fabrics commanded higher value because of their quality and cultural significance and expressed concern over imitation of the product, noting that it affect the competitiveness of local producers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adesuyi, therefore, called for legal protection of indigenous textile designs to safeguard their originality.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She also advocated improved access to quality raw materials and production facilities for weavers, adding that reliable infrastructure would strengthen productivity and improve product quality.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She urged greater patronage of locally produced fabrics through public procurement initiatives, while calling for improved export support to expand access to regional and international markets.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-453\" src=\"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260728-WA0130-300x163.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260728-WA0130-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260728-WA0130.jpg 710w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Adesuyi recommended extending similar support to other indigenous weaving centres across the country and emphasised the importance of transparent implementation of the Akwete intervention to achieve expected outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to her, effective monitoring of the industry will strengthen government\u2019s support for the textile sector.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She expressed optimism that sustained collaboration would help preserve Nigeria\u2019s textile heritage while creating jobs and expanding economic opportunities.(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An entrepreneur, Ms Omowumi Adesuyi, has called for sustained investment, stronger policies and market access to revitalise Nigeria\u2019s indigenous textile industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[59,160],"tags":[358,360,359],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-science-technology","tag-expert","tag-support","tag-textiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260728-WA0079.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}