The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has advised the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, engage multinational corporations and the business community in the country, to enable it to understand their challenges and develop appropriate solutions to deal with them.
The Chamber, in its reaction to P&G’s ending of manufacturing operations in Nigeria, added that inputs and feedback on policy decisions, gathered from such engagements, would go a long way to collaboratively develop solutions that would forestall the exodus of businesses from the country.
The company, in the statement signed by its Director General, Dr. Chinyere Almona, also asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to prioritise the stability of the country’s currency and adopt the right policy mix to ensure price stability.
Describing as worrisome the ‘consistent increase’, over the last few months, in exit plans from the Nigerian market by the multinationals, the business advocacy group called on the federal government to quickly work.on some of the challenges, such as foreign exchange scarcity, poor power supply, port congestion, multiple taxation and others, bedeviling the nation’s manufacturing sector.
“The trend is becoming worrisome. We have seen the likes of Unilever Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline, and Guinness Nigeria Plc toe this path.
“In Nigeria, lingering foreign exchange scarcity, poor power supply, port congestion, multiple taxation, insecurity, and poor infrastructure, among others, have taken a toll on many businesses in the country.
“The Chamber recommends that the government should implement measures to stabilise and ensure the availability of foreign exchange for businesses, particularly those operating in dollar-denominated environments.
“We also implore the government to create a more flexible and transparent foreign exchange policy to address scarcity issues,” the Chamber added.
The Chief Financial Officer of Procter & Gamble, Andre Schulten, had, on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, announced plans, by the company, to move its Nigerian operations to an import-only model, effectively dissolving its on-ground presence in the country.
One of the key challenges mentioned by the company for such a decision remains the issue of ‘conducting business as a dollar-denominated organisation’ other macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria.
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