By Eric Elezuo
A former governor of Anambra State and Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has given reasons foreign investors are shutting down their operations and leaving Nigeria.
He attributed the trend to a negative medium to long-term prospects strategy, unattractive investment profile and a continuous deteriorating business environment, among others.
Obi, who voiced his concerns in a series of tweets on his verified X account on Friday, tasked governments at all levels to take immediate steps towards reversing the trend and keeping strategic international investors in the country.
He said he is saddened to hear the news that multi-national consumer goods giant, Procter & Gamble (P&G), is leaving Nigeria.
The manufacturing conglomerate had announced a limited market portfolio restructuring which includes pulling out of Nigerian and Argentinian markets.
While reacting to the news, the former governor of Anambra State explained that Nigeria is scaring away multinational companies, at a time the purchasing power of most Nigerians nose-diving, the absence of the rule of law and lack of a conducive business environment, which ultimately makes it difficult to retain iconic companies let alone attract new ones.
“A few months ago, I lamented the exit of one of the top global pharmaceutical giants, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from Nigeria. GSK remains a top global pharmaceutical manufacturer and has had 51 years of operations in Nigeria,” Obi wrote.
“The reason for their exit was that there was no longer a perceived growth in Nigeria anchored on productivity.
“Today, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest personnel care and household products company, makers of iconic brands like Pampers, Gillette, etc, is again leaving Nigeria, for the same reason GSK left.
“Following this also are French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis, and top Energy firm, Norwegian behemoth Equinor which has sold off its Nigerian business development associates.
“Fifteen years ago, P&G, as they are commonly called, viewed Nigeria as a strategic country of importance and invested millions of dollars in an ultra-modern chain supply structure in Agbara which, sadly, is now up for sale.
“The presence of these iconic companies in any economy is not only that they signify trust and confidence, as well as belief in the medium to long-term socio-economic prospects of such countries, but they massively create jobs, invest in Research and Development, as well as pieces of training which smaller players in the industry learn from and adapt.
“They help, to a great extent to develop local talents for both local and global jobs. The exit of these top global companies shows that our medium to long-term prospects strategy is in the negative.
“Our investment profile is not attractive and our business environment is deteriorating continually.
“The purchasing power of most Nigerians is nose-diving every day. In the face of the absence of the rule of law, and a conducive business environment, it will be difficult to retain such iconic companies and talk more about attracting new ones.”
“National greatness and development cannot be pursued in an atmosphere that is scaring away strategic international investors,” he added.
Recall that in August, pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline packed up its businesses in the country with a promise to treat its staff fairly.
A statement to the effect, and signed by the Company Secretary, Frederick Ichekwai, stated in part, “In our published Q2 results we disclosed that the GSK UK Group has informed GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria PLC of its strategic intent to cease commercialization of its prescription medicines and vaccines in Nigeria through the GSK local operating companies and transition to a third-party direct distribution model for its pharmaceutical products.”
The company, whose primary activities include marketing and distribution of consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical products, said that its parent company, GSK Plc UK, had revealed its intent to cease commercialisation of its prescription medicines and vaccines through its Nigerian subsidiary.
A few days ago, the Chief Financial Officer of P&G, Mr. Andre Schulten, announced at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference that, “we have announced that we will turn Nigeria into an import-only market, effectively dissolving our footprint on the ground in Nigeria and reverting to an import-only model.”
Schulten, attributed the P&G’s decision exit Nigeria to the prevailing foreign exchange rate situation in the country, saying that Nigeria and Argentina were difficult to do business in because of macroeconomic environment.
He stated that, “the other reality that arises in some of these markets is that it gets increasingly difficult to operate and create U.S dollar value. So when you think about places like Nigeria and Argentina, it is difficult for us to operate because of the macroeconomic environment.
“So with that in mind, we are announcing a restructuring program with the intent to adjust operating model and adjust the portfolio to ensure that we maintain the portfolio discipline that has brought us to this point.
“The restructuring program will largely focus on Nigeria and Argentina. We’ve announced that we will turn Nigeria into an import-only market, effectively dissolving our footprint on the ground in Nigeria and reverting to an import-only model.”
He explained that Nigeria was a $50 million net sales business which would not make any significant marginal impact on the P&Gs overall portfolio worth $85 billion.
Mr. Peter Obi has been in the forefront of critiquing the policies of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
