NECA, NUFBTE Calls for Govt Intervention Amidst SMEs, Multinational Firms ’ Closure 

The organised labour in manufacturing sector, National Union of Food,  Beverages, Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association  (NECA) have expressed fear at the rate at which hundreds of Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) and multinational companies are shutting down their businesses or relocating out of the country.

Speaking on this development, the president of National Union of Food,  Beverages, Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) Comrade Garba Ibrahim, described the current harsh business environment as discouraging factor that could hinder the move by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime of wooing foreign investors to yield positive seeds.

According to Ibrahim, “more companies may still close shop and throw hundreds of workers into labour market based on number of issues like multiply taxation; high cost of energy generation due to hike in cost of diesel and maintenance of those plants and generators being used by manufacturing companies.”

Similarly, the director general of NECA, Adeyemi-Smatt Oyerinde warned against using one hand to pull investors for investment and using another hand to drive them away by dearth of forex, and other factors.

According to Oyerinde, “at the moment over 20,000 have lost their means of livelihoods  because their employers who could no longer cope with the harsh business environment have thrown their workers into already saturated unemployment market.”

Raising the alarm, he said, the country is sitting on keg of gunpowder based on the dire consequences of large numbers of unemployed people in the country.

“It is worrisome to note that in the last three (3) years, over fifteen (15) organizations with a combined value-chain staff strength of over twenty thousand (20,000) employees have either divested or partially closed operations. This has dire consequences not only for organized businesses but also for labour, government revenue and the households,” he stressed.

Moreover, he said: “the consequences of this massive job losses across sectors will continue to create insecurity challenges, increase the occurrence of child-labour (as children will be forced to become bread-winners), adversely affect the disposable income of families, erode the purchasing power of individuals and drastically reduce economy’s output.”

Oyerinde adviced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime to urgently address the multi-facet challenges currently being faced by organized businesses. He noted that “the harsh business environment has made local businesses to be uncompetitive. Government must urgently address regulatory and legislative bottlenecks that tend to stifle businesses rather than promote them. Continuous efforts must be made to promote locally made goods through the provision of critical infrastructures; urgent stabilization of the foreign exchange market and ensuring that Ministries, Departments and Agencies are appraised not only by how much income they generate, but also by how many businesses they facilitated or promoted.”