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United Nigerian Textiles Limited and Chinese–Nigerian textile-manufacturing collaboration in Kaduna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2019

Elisha P. Renne
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Abstract

In 1964, the newly established Hong Kong-based Cha Group partnered with the Northern Nigerian Regional Development Corporation to open the United Nigerian Textiles Limited (UNTL) mill in Kaduna – the largest textile mill in Northern Nigeria. The Cha Group later expanded, building textile mills in other parts of the country. Both Chinese and Nigerian managers and workers were involved in UNTL mills, which by 1980 provided printed cotton textiles for the Nigerian market and for other markets in West Africa. Yet this Chinese–Nigeria collaboration could not overcome factors external to the textile-manufacturing industry. Declining infrastructure, erratic electricity, frequent changes in political leadership at the federal level, and the smuggling of less-costly imported textiles (often from China) undermined local textile manufacturing, while inflationary pressures associated with the national oil industry undermined agricultural production, exacerbating the difficulties of obtaining raw Nigerian cotton. In 2007, the UNTL mill in Kaduna closed, although it resumed production in December 2010, assisted by the 100 billion naira Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Fund. Cha Group officials also used their knowledge of the Nigerian textile market as the basis for the marketing of branded, high-quality manufactured textiles, known as Da Viva®, at company-franchised shops in major Nigerian cities. The Cha Group took advantage of digital innovation, both in the printing of these popular textiles and also by advertising them on an attractive website. This article considers the ways in which the United Nigerian Textiles Plc company has maintained production of grey cloth and printed textiles at its mills in Kaduna and Ikorodu-Lagos, along with the marketing of Da Viva® cotton prints, which suggests the continuing, if contradictory, possibilities for this Nigerian–Chinese textile-manufacturing collaboration.

Résumé

En 1964, le Groupe Cha nouvellement créé, basé à Hong Kong, s'est associé à la Northern Nigerian Regional Development Corporation pour ouvrir à Kaduna l'usine United Nigerian Textiles Limited (UNTL), la plus grande usine textile dans le Nord du Nigeria. Le Groupe Cha s'est ensuite développé et a construit des usines textile dans d'autres régions du pays. Les usines UNTL, qui employaient des cadres et des travailleurs chinois et nigérians, fournissaient dès 1980 des cotonnades imprimées pour le marché nigérian et d'autres marchés d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Or, cette collaboration sino-nigériane n'arrivait pas à surmonter des facteurs externes à l'industrie textile. Le déclin infrastructurel, l’électricité erratique, les changements fréquents de leadership politique au niveau fédéral et l'importation illégale de textiles moins chers (souvent de Chine) ont fragilisé l'industrie textile locale, tandis que des pressions inflationnistes associées à l'industrie pétrolière nationale affaiblissaient la production agricole, exacerbant les difficultés à obtenir du coton brut nigérian. En 2007, l'usine UNTL de Kaduna a fermé, avant de reprendre la production en décembre 2010, aidée par le Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Fund de 100 milliards de nairas. Les responsables du Groupe Cha ont également utilisé leur connaissance du marché textile nigérian pour lancer une marque textile de qualité, connue sous le nom de Da Viva®, à travers des magasins franchisés implantés dans les grandes villes du pays. Le Groupe Cha a tiré profit d'innovations numériques, tant pour l'impression de ces textiles populaires que pour leur promotion sur un site Internet attrayant. Cet article s'intéresse à la manière dont l'entreprise United Nigerian Textiles a maintenu sa production de textiles imprimés et de toiles bisones dans ses usines de Kaduna et de Ikorodu-Lagos, ainsi que la promotion des cotons imprimés Da Viva® qui suggère la poursuite de possibilités, bien que contradictoires, de cette collaboration de fabrication textile nigéro-chinoise.

Type
Afro-Chinese engagements
Information
Africa , Volume 89 , Issue 4 , November 2019 , pp. 696 - 717
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2019 

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