TRIBUNE
Nigeria, despite being the largest economy in Africa — with over 200 million population, is lately facing a mass exodus of multinational companies.
From January 2023 till date, no fewer than seven multinationals have either left or announced their decision to exit the country by December.
Many of these companies have spent decades doing business in Nigeria while others are folding up operations barely 3 years after announcing their arrivals.
Nigeria, despite being the largest economy in Africa — with over 200 million population, is lately facing a mass exodus of multinational companies.
From January 2023 till date, no fewer than seven multinationals have either left or announced their decision to exit the country by December.
Many of these companies have spent decades doing business in Nigeria while others are folding up operations barely 3 years after announcing their arrivals.
Before 2023, some of the challenges faced by local and multinational manufacturers in Nigeria have been power crisis, constant devaluation of Naira, Forex availability coupled with other stringent policies of the government.
But following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, 2023, many things changed, including inflation on all fronts. The President, in his inaugural speech, had announced fuel subsidy removal — which has now affected Nigerians of all social strata — and directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to begin monetary policy reforms.
Subsequently, the CBN’s director in charge of financial markets, Angela Sere-Ejembi, in a press statement, said the apex bank announced immediate changes to operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) market.
The central bank abolished its hitherto multiple exchange rate windows and collapsed them into the business-based Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. But with the CBN’s devaluation and Foreign exchange unification, the paucity of Forex still persists.
This, arguably, affected multinationals whose business largely depended on Forex availability and purchasing power of Nigerians greatly eroded by rising inflation.
However, one of the companies to be mentioned in this article had announced their exit before May.
While the President, on many occasions, continued to urge investors to consider the many economic potentials of the country, the exodus or divestment of multinational companies in Nigeria keep sending contrasting signals to prospective investors.
Multinational companies leaving Nigeria in 2023:
Unilever
In March, Unilever announced the exit of its home care and skin cleansing from Nigeria.
According to the manufacturer of the famous brands such as Omo, Sunlight and Lux; the changes in its business led to the decision to fold up operations in the country.
GSK Plc
Barely four months after — precisely July 2023, Nigeria’s second-biggest drug producer and British pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, announced an end to manufacturing operations in Nigeria.
While no reason was given for the company’s exit from Nigeria, GSK Plc — with headquarters in the UK — said its prescription medicines and vaccines will be sold in the country through third-party distributors.
Sanofi-Aventi Nigeria
Like GSK Plc, this French pharmaceutical multinational, Sanofi, announced its decision to quit Nigeria.
This company, in his November announcement, disclosed its resolve to appoint a third-party distributor for its commercial portfolio of medicines from February, 2024.
Bolt Food
Bolt Food, the online food-ordering arm of ride-hailing company Bolt, offers food delivery in 16 countries and 33 cities globally. But two years after launching Bolt Food in Nigeria, the company declared a difficult decision to discontinue food delivery operations in the country’s market.
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