The call by federal lawmakers in the lower chamber for criminalisation of the importation of local fabrics, specifically adire and kampala deserves to be given positive consideration.

It is being made against the dire need to grow and protect local industries, conserve scarce foreign exchange and thus strengthen the naira, stimulate employment and ultimately set the economy on the right path.

Beyond merely calling for criminal sanctions against importers of these clothing materials, the entire legislature needs to collaborate with the executive arm of government to formulate a comprehensive policy to encourage local production of goods, and particularly to protect industries that were otherwise thriving. Official neglect of the local industry has in the past, cost Nigeria a substantial loss of revenue and production capacity in many areas including the textile industry.

The present concern of members of the House of Representatives will only be meaningful if it addresses holistically the unbridled appetite of the average Nigerian, including government officials and public servants, for anything foreign.

It is not only logical but appropriate as well that Nigerians should have an abiding interest and appetite to patronise locally made goods. However, either by omission or commission, Nigeria has over the years virtually become a dumping ground for all sorts of goods, both used and new, from Europe and elsewhere.

The anxiety over the pollution of the Nigerian market with used and substandard goods from other parts of the world draws attention to the government’s incompetence or unwillingness to address the question of industrial growth and development. It must be said, however, that in the face of this inaction by the government, there is a dislocation in the economy, policy failures and misused opportunities; and sadly, nearly all factories and companies that flourished in the 1980’s have had to close shop as the Nigerian economy became import-dependent.

The House of Representatives recently called on the Federal Government to criminalise the importation of foreign fabrics popularly known as Adire and Kampala into the country. The decision was reached through the adoption of a motion by Afolabi Afuape at a plenary in Abuja. According to the lower House, the call became necessary to protect the local cottage industry, create employment as well as conserve scarce foreign exchange.

Indeed, there are genuine fears for the survival of the cottage industries and it is equally disturbing that for over three decades, Nigeria has become a dumping ground for all sorts of items and goods imported from foreign countries.

It is therefore instructive that the lower House saw the need to not only raise the alarm but also seek to criminalise the importation of Adire and Kampala imitation fabrics to stem the tide and save the economy and the cottage industries. The industry must be prevented from going into extinction like other companies that shut down due to importation and government policy failure to halt the invasion of foreign goods into the country.

Undoubtedly, the preponderance, acceptance and importation of foreign fabric have endangered local production, just as the acute importation of goods, tokunbo cars among others underscore the collapse of the country’s industrial sector. The evidence is before our faces as industries like Dunlop Nigeria Limited, and Michelin Nigeria just to mention a few, that produced affordable new automobile tyres and tubes had to shut down when tokunbo cars and tyres began to find their way into the country in the early 1990’s.

Before the advent of the so-called tokunbo items flooding the country, the nation was on the verge of an industrial take-off with several manufacturing companies springing up in several cities across the country and rolling out assorted products. It was unthinkable for anyone at that period to buy second-hand clothing, cars or used tyres. Many Nigerians adored the wearing of our local Adire, Ankara and Kampala, a culture which was amplified during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s military regime; but successive governments failed to sustain it.

However, the call to criminalise the importation of Adire and Kampala raises the fundamental question of the sustainability of the market demand. If for instance, local factories were producing the same items in large quantities in Nigeria at affordable cost, surely Nigerians would not need to import imitation fabric of Adire and Kampala.

Notwithstanding, it is important to protect the cottage industries by discouraging the dumping of foreign imitation. To this end, criminalising the importation of Adire and Kampala fabrics would go a long way to encourage local production to thrive, and create job opportunities even as it is critical to turning around the economy of the country.

No doubt, there are benefits in discouraging the importation of Adire and Kampala through criminalisation of the act or otherwise, but care must be taken to avoid creating artificial scarcity of the fabrics, more so as the local production at the moment is relatively small and may not be able to sustain the market demand.

What is required in the face of all this, is more effective control and regulation of Adire and Kampala importation into the country. In any case, that does not stop the lower House which mandated its Committee on Commerce to walk its talk by collaborating with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to establish formal training and orientation programmes for local fabric producers. According to it, the training would centre on skills, quality control, marketing and business management.

It is, however, ironic that the House of Representatives members who are quick to call for criminalising the importation of imitated Adire and Kampala fabrics are equally guilty of not patronising made-in-Nigeria vehicles. Simply, what their action implies is that their taste for everything foreign is no problem to the country and economy. This is patently a misnomer, as charity should begin from home. The lawmakers should lead by example and make appropriate regulations that will be enforced on their members who default. There should be one set of laws for both the lawmakers and the people.

As it were, the most redemptive thing to do is for the government to have the will and consistency of vision to drive the economy positively through harnessing locally made goods. Government must be seen as a continuum and its action should be dictated towards a national industrial policy that would inspire confidence and subsequently lead to a resuscitation of not only the cottage but other industries across the country.

Without a doubt, the onus lies on the government to come up with well-articulated policies to stop the importation of goods and items that can be produced locally to encourage local manufacturers and create jobs for Nigeria’s teeming young population.

One such policy is the closure of borders to unwanted and unnecessary goods. When borders are left wide open and largely unguarded, the local industries will not grow. Again, criminalising Adire and Kampala imitation importation without concrete work towards reviving the local fabric industries may just pit the government against its citizens.