The federal government has warned that banning civil servants from wearing local attire will impoverish tailors and further damage Nigeria’s faltering economy.

Specifically, the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) urged Governor Mohammed Bago of Niger to rescind the ban on wearing native attires by civil servants in the state to the office.

NCAC director-general Olusegun Runsewe made the plea in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Runsewe said the ban might be misconstrued, particularly by young Nigerians, who had taken to wearing and showcasing Nigerian wear at social events outside the country. He noted that the youths helped to promote the richness of Nigerian culture and tradition.

The NCAC boss explained that the ban, if not reappraised, might hurt the local Nigerian fashion industry, impacting the revival of the Nigerian fabric sector.

He said that in recent times, the fabric sector has been facing stiff competition from foreign companies, who fake and import poor-quality Nigerian fabrics into the country.

“I want to most sincerely appeal to His Excellency, Governor Mohammed Bago, to kindly help us keep in focus our efforts to proudly dress as Nigerians, which will help us market our culture. This will also help in creating jobs for our youths, particularly women whose livelihood is in the area of selling native cloth materials and farming of cotton used in the production of the local fabrics.

“The ban will hurt Nigeria’s fabrics economy and impoverish the tailors and all those involved in the downstream sector of the local fashion economy and may, in the long run, if not rescinded. This will give a huge negative edge to Eurocentric fabrics against our cultural way of dressing,” he said.

Last Saturday, Mr Bago banned Niger civil servants from wearing native clothes like kaftan, babanriga and flowing gowns except Fridays.