A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to stop the continued exit of multinational companies from Nigeria.
Oyintiloye, who made the appeal in a chat with journalists on Sunday in Osogbo, described the exit of these companies as worrisome and heartbreaking.
The APC chieftain appealed to the president to continue to do everything possible to improve on the economy to attract more investment to the country rather than exiting.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, said that the continuous exit of multinational companies from the country, if not checked, could lead to reduction in foreign investment inflows.
The APC chieftain said the recent announcement by Kimberly-Clark, an American multinational and producer of baby products, Huggies, to exit the country was worrisome.
He said that GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Limited and Procter and Gamble, among others have shut down their operations fully or partially .
According to him, in 2023, Unilever stopped the production of its legendary OMO, Sunlight and Lux home and skin care brands in a bid to cut costs so as to concentrate on higher growth opportunities.
Oyintiloye also said that multinational oil companies were also affected in the exit.
“This include influential oil mining multinationals such as Shell, ExxonMobil and ENI.
“These companies left mainly because of heightened insecurity in the Niger Delta and inability of the government to provide their counterpart funds to enable the joint venture agreements to explore and exploit new oilfields”, he said
Oyintiloye, who admitted that the president was doing everything possible to stabilise the economy, said that there is urgent need for government to address the challenging business environment cited by the companies.
He said that the inflationary pressure, lack of liquid foreign exchange, rising interest rates, electricity crisis, among others causing the exit of multinational companies must be quickly addressed.
Oyintiloye, a former member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), said the exit of these companies would not only result in job loss but also affects the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
He urged the president to put in place measures that would ensure availability of foreign exchange for companies.
Oyintiloye also appealed to President to restore Nigeria as a haven for multinational industries and also empower the indigenous manufacturing industries
“There is no doubt that the president has been putting measures in place to revamp the economy, increasing foreign direct investment and also making local industries vibrant and competitive.
“But there is urgent need to address challenges causing the exit of these multinational companies.
“Government should create a more flexible, transparent foreign exchange policy to address scarcity issues, reduce the inflationary trend which has reduced consumers’ demand and purchasing power, create tax breaks, review economic and fiscal policy.
“The government should also look at how to give incentives to some of the multinationals that are still operating in the country,” he said.
Oyintiloye noted that with the various policies put in place by the president to revamp the economy, Nigerians would soon “begin to smile.” (NAN)