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| L-R: Gov Ben Ayade, Cross River Garment Factory, Princewill Odidi |
29 October 2019
Following recent news that President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned a new industrial complex for the military in Kaduna with one of the projects commissioned being a new garment factory that will go into full operations in 2021, a development expert, social entrepreneur and political pundit based in Atlanta, Georgia in the US has decried the decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria NEGROIDHAVEN can say.
Princewill Odidi has argued that since there is an already completed garment factory in Calabar, Cross River State why embark on building another in the country. Odidi proceeded with faulting the partnership with Turkey in building the Kaduna factory.
His words, ‘Now, we have a completed garment factory in Calabar that is redundant, gradually becoming a burden to the state government due to lack of business. Why build a new one in Kaduna when the military industrial complex can just partner with CRSG and take over our garment factory.
‘Moreso, why use a Turkish firm to set up a garment factory? Is it to build the building or buy machines that Africans cannot do? Why resort to the Whiteman even in basic things we can do? Why do we as a people reason this way? No nation develops by looking outside. We need to develop some sort of confidence that we can do things ourselves’, he said.
The obviously disappointed commentator observed that ‘Maybe the governor should just donate our factory to the military as a free gift. At least if that will propel them to use it for their purpose and at least bring those jobs here. A Turkish firm building a tailor shop for us, what a failure in leadership.’
The new Kaduna garment factory is developed in partnership with a foreign Turkish company. The President has ordered that going forward all military, police and paramilitary uniforms should be sewn there.
