Stakeholders Call Industrialisation Without Stable, Functional Manufacturing Sector A Mirage

Stakeholders have called on federal government to create a conducive atmosphere for business to thrive as well as to establish and protect jobs.

They claimed government policies are counter-productive, in that it brings investors in, but then chase them away with policy summersaults.

They claimed that efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime to establish industrialised economy without first retaining existing companies would be a mirage.

Likewise they admitted that foreign exchange rates will continue working against the Naira as long as Nigeria is operating an import-driven economy.

The President of Food Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (FOBTOB), Comrade Jimoh Oyibo, who made this known to me, blamed mass exit of firms on multiple taxation, dwindling electricity supply, high cost of diesel, fuel and high cost of gas to power their machines.

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Oyibo said that over 325 people have lost jobs within few months. Oyibo called on government to involve industry stakeholders in policy-making decisions.

With over 150,000 direct and indirect jobs lost within July 2023 and February 2024, and more than 770 firms that have left, the General Secretary of Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON) Comrade Gbenga Komolafe, in chat with me, tied the mass exodus to harsh business environment such as, electricity, inability to restock shops after sales, specially by people in the confectionary sector.

Komolafe also blamed huge loss of revenue over inability to sell finished products. Non sale of finished products as a result of lack of purchasing power of consumers, multiple taxation, inability to transport finished products as another reason for shutting down of many businesses.
On his part, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association of Nigeria (NECA) appeals to FG to help workers retain their jobs.

While explaining the current realities of the following mass exit of manufacturing firms, the Director General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association of Nigeria (NECA) Adeyemi-Smatt Oyerinde, lamented that within the last three years, hundreds of companies have either exited the country, shut down or changed business model.

According to Oyerinde, some of the companies included, Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing (JSM), Proctor & Gamble, Unilever Nigeria Plc, PZ Nigeria Plc, GSK Nigeria Plc, Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, Bolt Food, Nampak, Microsoft, Jumia Food, Equinor (oil & gas), Mayor Biscuits Company Limited, Greif Nigeria among others, with many other multinational companies declaring over N1trillion in combined losses from unsold products.