28 October 2019
Cross River Textile and Garment Factory has once again been snubbed in respect of deals for the production of clothings for the Nigerian military.
The Ministry of Defence and Sur-Corporatewear of Turkey, on Thursday in Abuja, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a military and paramilitary clothing and accessories factory in Nigeria.
The MoU was in furtherance of agreement between the two countries to establish the factory in the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) complex in Kaduna.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mrs Nuratu Batagarawa and Director General of DICON, Maj.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, signed on behalf of Nigeria, while the Chairman, Sur-Corporatewear, Mr Oktay Ercan, signed for his company.
The signing was also witnessed by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin and Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah.
Speaking, the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi said that the public private partnership (PPP) between DICON and Sur-Corporatewear was based on the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) model.
Magashi said the partnership, which began in February 2016, followed a presentation by the company to DICON, ICRC and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
He said: “The partnership is intended among other things to revitalise the Nigerian textile industry through the development of cotton production and a state of art cotton milling in the country. Second, to provide direct employment for over 4,000 employees and numerous labour that would be provided for the value chain.”
This is perceived to be a major setback to Gov Ben Ayade's Garment Factory.
