By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has reiterated that his administration is committed to creating a robust financial system and business-friendly economy, which will attract more foreign direct investment.
He stated this on Thursday in Abuja as the Coca-Cola Company announced plans to invest $1 billion in Nigeria over the next five years.
The announcement was made at a meeting between the president and the global leadership team of Coca-Cola Company, led by its President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr John Murphy, and Chairman of Nigerian Bottling Company, Mr Segun Apata.
President Tinubu commended Coca-Cola for its long-standing partnership with Nigeria and for promoting investment opportunities that had employed over 3,000 people across nine production facilities.
He pledged that his government would continue to partner with Coca-Cola to expand investment in Nigeria and address environmental issues, including climate change.
“The size of this country is enormous in Africa, and the consumption capacity of Nigeria is expanding daily,” Mr Tinubu added.
He commended the company for scaling up skills development and community initiatives as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Mr Murphy stated that the company generated N320 billion annually through nearly 300,000 customers and contributed almost N90 billion in revenue to the Nigerian government.
“We are very proud of the growth of the business over a long period and its impact on the daily lives of many Nigerians.
“Beyond the financial impacts, we are also very committed to supporting the communities, and over the last number of years, we’ve had a special focus on several areas in the world of sustainability, water packaging and others.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, Mr Zoran Bogdanovic, explained that the company’s confidence in the Nigerian government’s policies had encouraged it to make the $1 billion investment pledge.
”Mr President, in your inaugural address, we were very pleased to hear of your invitation for foreign investors to invest and your assurance that foreign businesses can repatriate dividends and profits.
“That assurance gives us the confidence to continue our investments. Since 2013, we have invested $1.5 billion in Nigeria in capacity expansion, transformation of our supply chain infrastructure capabilities, training, and development.
”I am very pleased to announce that, with a predictable and enabling environment in place, we plan to invest an additional $1 billion over the next five years.
”We believe Nigeria’s potential is tremendous, and we are committed to working with the government to realise this potential.”