A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has described the recent exit of multinational companies from Nigeria as a worrisome development.
Oyintiloye appealed to President Bola Tinubu to continue to do everything possible to improve on the economy and attract more investment to the country, rather than for the ones operating within her territory to exit.
The APC chieftain made the remarks while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Osogbo.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, said the continuous exit of multinational companies in Nigeria, if not checked, could lead to reduction in foreign investment inflows, massive job losses, and reduction in economy output, among others.
The APC chieftain said the recent announcement by Kimberly-Clark, a multinational company and makers of Huggies to exit the country is a worrisome development.
He also said that GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Limited, and Procter and Gamble planto shift, 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, who noted that the exit of these multinational companies did not just affect manufacturing, noted that the oil sector was also affected.
According to him, almost about 26 oil companies and investments have pulled out and sold their stakes to domestic investors.
“These 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, a former member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) said the exit of these companies would not only result to job losses but would also affects the value chain and decline in the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
The APC Chieftain, who admitted that the president was doing everything possible to stabilise the economy, said that there was an urgent need for the government to address the challenges in business operating environment cited by the companies.
He appealed to the 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.
“The government should create a more flexible and transparent foreign exchange policy to address scarcity issues, reduce the inflationary trend which has reduced consumers’ demand and purchasing power, create tax breaks, and 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, however, assured that with the various policies put in place by the president to revamp the economy, Nigerians would soon begin to smile.