Customs officers attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, yesterday, said it intercepted 140 bundles of textile materials worth N11.2 billion.
The customs said the textile materials were smuggled into the country from neighbouring countries at the expense of locally produced ones.
Smuggling of textile materials through the nation’s land borders have increased since the Federal Government (FG) placed a ban on access to Foreign Exchange (FOREX) to importers of textile materials in the country.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, had in March, 2019, said Nigeria spent over $4bn annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing, and that the potential market size of the domestic textile industry was over $10bn.
Speaking to journalists at a press briefing, the Customs Area Controller of Zone A, Mohammed Aliyu, said 25,153 bags of foreign parboiled rice smuggled into the country were also intercepted.
Aliyu said the textile materials which were worth over N11.2m were intercepted after being smuggled from neighbouring countries.
