Senate Advances Barau’s Digital Assets Bill, Seeks Revival of Textile Industry

Senate Advances Barau’s Digital Assets Bill, Seeks Revival of Textile Industry

The Senate on Tuesday advanced a bill seeking to establish a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for virtual assets in Nigeria, while also calling for urgent measures to revive the country’s struggling textile industry.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, scaled second reading during plenary, attracting unanimous support from lawmakers.

Leading the debate on behalf of Barau, the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, said the bill seeks to provide a legal, regulatory and supervisory framework for virtual assets and digital asset service providers operating in Nigeria.

He said, Nigeria ranks among the world’s leading users of virtual assets, yet lacks a comprehensive legal framework to regulate the rapidly expanding sector.

“Virtual assets, from cryptocurrency to blockchain-based tokens, have become an integral part of modern economic life,” Monguno said.

He explained “While innovation in the sector has surged, regulation has lagged behind. This bill seeks to close that gap and ensure compliance with laws designed to protect the public and the financial system.”

Following deliberations, senators unanimously backed the proposal and referred it for further legislative scrutiny.

Earlier, another bill sponsored by Barau, the Nigeria Communications Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2026, successfully passed its first reading in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the upper chamber also adopted a motion urging the Federal Government to take immediate steps toward reviving Nigeria’s textile industry, which lawmakers said had suffered years of decline.

The motion, moved by Senator Sunday Marshall Katung and co-sponsored by Barau and several other senators, highlighted the devastating impact of the industry’s collapse on employment and economic growth.

While summing up debate on the motion, Barau said the textile sector’s decline had led to the loss of thousands of jobs and livelihoods across the country.

“This issue touches on our overall well-being as Nigerians and on our economy,” he said. “We have lost thousands of jobs and livelihoods due to the collapse of our textile industry.”

He added: “By importing 99 per cent of our textile needs, we invariably create jobs for the countries we import from while denying our teeming population these same jobs. We need to reverse this trend to strengthen our economy and improve the welfare of our people.”

The Senate subsequently resolved to call on the Federal Government to urgently revive the textile industry, noting that such intervention would create employment opportunities, stimulate economic growth and help address youth restiveness.

Lawmakers expressed optimism that a revitalised textile sector would reduce dependence on imports and contribute significantly to Nigeria’s industrial development.