A leading member of the All Progressives Congress, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has sounded the alarm over the alarming rate of multinational companies departing Nigeria.
In a press conference in Osogbo on Sunday, Oyintiloye urged President Bola Tinubu to take swift action to revitalize the nation’s economy and attract further investment.
The APC chieftain warned that the continuous exit of multinational companies could have far-reaching consequences, including a significant decline in foreign investment, massive job losses, and a substantial decrease in economic output, according to Champion News.
Oyintiloye cited the recent departure of prominent companies like Kimberly-Clark, GlaxoSmithKline, and Procter and Gamble, among others, as a worrisome trend.
He also highlighted the impact on the oil sector, with numerous companies selling their stakes to domestic investors.
The former lawmaker emphasized the need for a favorable business environment, proposing flexible foreign exchange policies, tax breaks, and incentives to attract and retain multinationals.
While acknowledging President Tinubu’s economic revitalization efforts, Oyintiloye stressed the urgency of addressing the issue to empower local manufacturing industries and stimulate economic growth.
“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 said the exit of these companies would not only result to job losses but also affects the value chain and decline in the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Products.
The APC Chieftain, who admitted that the President was doing everything possible to stabilize the economy, said that there was urgent need for government to address the challenging in business operating environment cited by the companies.
He appealed to 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.
“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, 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, said that with the various policies put in place by the President to revamp the economy, Nigerians would soon begin to smile.
