Kazz Kazzian fashion boss urges CBN to give financial aid to designers

Nigerian fashion designer, Kazz Kazzian, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide stimulus package to the fashion design industry in order to save up-and-coming designers from folding up in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking in an interview with journalists, the CEO and Founder of the Kazzian Fashion Brand, Abiose Sunkanmi Ahmed, said that many fashion designers had been going through trying times because of the harsh economic realities brought about by the global pandemic that forced worldwide lockdown in March to May.

As businesses try to reopen and return to normal, the founder of the Kazzian Luxury Brand, who has designed top-notch clothes for the likes of music sensations, Davido and Banky W, said it was imperative for the CBN to extend financial aids to the fashion design industry.

Sunkanmi Ahmed stated that the fashion design industry has played a key role in helping to grow the nation’s economy and take youths off the unemployment market, adding that the prevailing COVID-19 environment had necessitated the need for the injection of funds by the CBN to stem the tide of unemployment, underemployment and bankruptcy of fashion design houses.

He said: “The federal government needs to extend a financial lifeline to the fashion design industry because of the key role that this creative sector plays in the economic growth of Nigeria. As a sector, a lot of Nigerians are taken off the unemployment market and the majority of them get empowered and in turn, empower others to become independent and self- reliant.

“Given the sensitive role we play in the economy of our country, it is only expedient for the CBN to advance to the fashion design industry, the same palliative packages it has given other sectors of the economy,” Kazz Kazzian stated.

On how he has been able to rise above economic problems caused by the pandemic, Kazzian said: “One has always been progressive in thinking and action. I have always been an advocate of long-term planning and with hard work, creativity and insightful planning, I have been able to keep this brand afloat.”