Nigeria seeks textile revival, industrial partnership in high-level talks with India

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) A high-level Nigeria–India Textile Business-to-Business (B2B) engagement and policy roundtable recently took place in Abuja city, aimed at a structured revival of the country’s textile industry and industrial partnership with India, a new report has said.

Leading private sector figures and trade partners of both countries outlined a coordinated strategy to drive job growth, exports of Nigeria’s textile sector in partnership with India, the report from This Day Live said.

“India, currently one of the world’s largest textile economies, was presented as a key partner in machinery supply, textile technology, skills development, and manufacturing investment,” the report said.

The meeting proposed textile processing clusters in Nigeria’s cotton‑producing regions such as Katsina and Zamfara States in technical collaboration with Indian industrial hubs in Surat, Tiruppur and Coimbatore.

An industrial partnership with India was also proposed by stakeholders as a model for technology transfer and value chain development.

Training programmes, virtual trade linkages and business‑to‑business matchmaking between Nigerian distributors and Indian manufacturers were also discussed in the meeting.

Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) President Jani Ibrahim, and Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Emeka Obegolu, attended the meeting with Indian trade representatives and development partners.

Ibrahim warned that Nigeria’s textile industry continues to decline despite strong domestic demand, due to competition with imports, while exports fell sharply.

He argued that billions spent on imports could instead strengthen local cotton farmers, textile manufacturers, designers, and small businesses across the value chain.

He also stressed strong fundamentals of Nigeria such as a large population, growing fashion industry, and a robust entrepreneurial base.

Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry stressed on mobilisation of funds for women-owned businesses.

Obegolu pointed to women-led MSMEs as crucial for job creation and innovation, which currently face barriers in credit access due to high interest rates, collateral requirements, and rigid lending structures.

—IANS

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Five killed in multiple accidents in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati, May 4 (IANS) Five persons were killed and several others injured in three road accidents that occurred almost simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district on Sunday.

A lorry laden with eggs overturned after hitting a lorry on the Ongole East Bypass Road near Koppulu in Ongole Mandal.

The driver and both cleaners of the overturned lorry were killed on the spot. They were identified as Ramanaiah, 60, Nagendra, 25, and Babu, 45, all residents of Gudipallipadu in Nellore district.

The van with egg load was heading to the Nellore district from Bhuvanagiri in neighbouring Telangana state.

Moments later, another truck rammed into the overturned lorry. Four people in the truck that hit the overturned van were injured in the accident. The injured were shifted to the Government General Hospital in Ongole. The accident led to a traffic jam on the national highway.

A car that had stopped due to the traffic jam was hit by a truck from behind. Under the impact of the collision, the car rammed into a stationary truck in front of it.

According to police, the car got crushed between two trucks and five people travelling in it were severely injured. Two of them succumbed while being shifted to the hospital.

The deceased were identified as Pavani, 25, and Kaushik, 14, residents of Guntur district. They were on their way to Tirumala from Guntur.

The car was badly mangled in the collision that occurred half a kilometre from the spot where the first accident took place.

Police said in another accident, a truck hit a tractor which was taking a U-turn due to a traffic jam. However, no one was injured in the accident.

Police deployed cranes to remove the trucks and cars involved in the collisions and restore the traffic.

Police registered cases and took up investigations. Prakasam’s Superintendent of Police A.R. Damodar visited the spot and supervised the relief operation.

The SP said they took into custody the driver of one of the trucks while another driver escaped.

–IANS

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Over 90 times rise in direct benefit transfer in just a decade: FM Sitharaman

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) There has been more than 90 times rise in direct benefit transfer (DBT) in just a decade under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

Moreover, India leads the world in real-time payments, with more than Rs 260 lakh crore worth of transactions processed in 2024-25, the Finance Minister informed on the X social media platform.

“From Rs 7,368 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 6.83 lakh crore in 2024-25, there has been a 90X+ rise in DBT transfer in just a decade under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, ensuring that every rupee reaches to every citizen,” said FM Sitharaman.

She further stated that India leads the world in real-time payments as “Rs 260+ lakh crore worth of transactions processed in 2024-25 and approximately 18,600 crore transactions by volume handled annually”.

According to the Finance Minister, India’s tech journey over the last 11 years is nothing short of revolutionary.

“India has transformed into a hub of digital innovation, tech-led governance, and global trust. From manufacturing to space tech, from digital payments to rural connectivity — the change is visible, impactful, and lasting,” she emphasised.

But this isn’t just about devices and platforms — it’s about seamless governance, citizen empowerment, and building a tech-first ‘Viksit Bharat’, said FM Sitharaman.

A staggering 55.44 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened in India, 56 per cent of which belong to women, and the total amount in these deposits has surpassed Rs 2.5 lakh crore as of May 21 this year, according to RBI Deputy Governor M. Rajeshwar Rao.

In FY 2024-25, digital payments surged 35 per cent Y-o-Y by volume to 60.81 crore transactions per day, with UPI accounting for 83.73 per cent of such transactions. The extraordinary uptake of UPI stands as a testament to the power of collaborative and use-case-driven innovation in driving financial inclusion, Rao observed.

–IANS

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UNICEF warns Afghanistan could lose over 25,000 female teachers, healthcare workers by 2030

Kabul, April 28 (IANS) The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday warned that Afghanistan risks losing up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 amid continuing restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment in the country.

In its latest analysis titled “The Cost of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan”, the UNICEF said that female representation in the civil services fell from 21 per cent to 17.7 per cent between 2023 and 2025.

It cautioned that the declining number of trained women professionals in schools and hospitals across Afghanistan would have devastating consequences for children’s education, health outcomes and future opportunities.

“Restrictions on girls’ and women’s education and work are already costing the country US$84 million annually in lost economic output, with losses compounding over time as they remain blocked from education and employment,” UNICEF mentioned.

According to the UN agency, removing women from teaching and healthcare services in Afghanistan – two sectors where they are permitted to work and critically needed – directly harms children as it will lead to fewer girls in schools and reduced care for women and children.

The impact, it said, is particularly severe in healthcare, where societal context often prevents women from receiving medical services from men– while the declining number of female health workers will directly limit maternal, newborn, and child health services.

“Afghanistan cannot afford to lose future teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives, and social workers, who sustain essential services. This will be the reality if girls continue to be excluded from education,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“We urge the de facto authorities to lift the ban on secondary education for girls and call on the international community to remain committed to supporting girls’ rights to learn,” she added.

UNICEF stated that Afghanistan is facing a dual crisis—the loss of trained female professionals and the inability of the next generation to replace them.

As experienced women retire or leave the workforce, it said, girls remain barred from continuing their education and stepping into these roles.

Each year of delay costs Afghanistan another generation of skilled professionals, the UN agency noted.

Since the Afghan Taliban barred girls from secondary education in September 2021, UNICEF said that one million girls have been denied their right to learn in a country that already has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world.

The analysis indicated that if the ban persists until 2030, more than two million girls in Afghanistan will be deprived of their right to education beyond primary school.

It added that schools are already affected, with the number of female teachers in basic education declining by over 9 per cent – from nearly 73,000 in 2022 to around 66,000 in 2024.

–IANS

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