Cross River floats garment factory

CROSS River State Government, in collaboration with the private sector, is floating a multi-million Naira garment factory in Calabar, the state capital.

Governor Ben Ayade, who disclosed this at the weekend in Calabar, said the facility will be in two months.

While at the inspection of the project site along Goodluck Jonathan Bypass, Ayade said the garment factory is one of the projects earmarked by the state government for actualisation within his first 100 days in office.

Upon completion, the factory is expected to generate about 1000 jobs, the bulk of which would be women, particularly widows.‎

According to the governor, “equipment for the factory has been procured and when fully completed, will be a major employer of labour, especially widows as its work force. Investigations show that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh employ mostly women in their garment factories while in Turkey, women constitute 40 per cent of its work force,” he disclosed.

Ayade further hinted that “apart from women, the factory will also provide employment to some teeming unemployed youths roaming the streets.”

The project, which seats on three hectares of land, will provide fabric for the production of school uniforms, army uniforms, police and other paramilitary uniforms.

On the choice of the factory, the governor revealed that “during the just concluded political campaigns, we discovered that the T-shirts and caps worn by party members all across the country were imported from China, and Cross River being a border state, and with the support of the Federal Government, will supply these items to neighbouring states and countries.”

According to Ayade, “the factory is also expected to enhance the revenue profile of the state which apart from creating employment, will improve on the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR).”