L
LequteMan
Guest
Africa’s top tomato paste maker, Chief Eric Umeofia of Erisco Foods has announced that the firm is leaving Nigeria.
Erisco has set machinery in motion to set up manufacturing concerns in four additional African countries—Kenya, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia, a fallout from Umeofia’s decision to close shop in Nigeria.
Umeofia, who confirmed the development to correspondents in Lagos on Sunday, said that his goal was also to have dominant tomato paste manufacturing presence in at least 20 African countries in the near future.
He said that ease of doing business was his attraction in opening shops in the African countries, following his plans to move out of Nigeria because of “the harsh realities of doing business in the country”.
He said undue favouritism to Lebanese, Indian and Chinese businessmen in the allocation of foreign exchange to import tomato pastes and other items, including frozen fish, has dealt serious blow to his company, Erisco Foods Ltd. and also to other Nigerian companies involved in manufacturing.
On October 5, he announced plans to shut down operations and sack some 1,500 workers at his expansive factory in Oregun, an industrial area of Lagos.
The industrialist said that he decided to relocate to China to produce at cheaper cost and then, sell the goods in Nigeria and other African markets, stressing that he would even make more profit doing so.
He said, “This appears to be the only reasonable thing for me to do since my cries appear to have no meaning for those stifling our operations.”
NAN
Erisco has set machinery in motion to set up manufacturing concerns in four additional African countries—Kenya, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia, a fallout from Umeofia’s decision to close shop in Nigeria.
Umeofia, who confirmed the development to correspondents in Lagos on Sunday, said that his goal was also to have dominant tomato paste manufacturing presence in at least 20 African countries in the near future.
He said that ease of doing business was his attraction in opening shops in the African countries, following his plans to move out of Nigeria because of “the harsh realities of doing business in the country”.
He said undue favouritism to Lebanese, Indian and Chinese businessmen in the allocation of foreign exchange to import tomato pastes and other items, including frozen fish, has dealt serious blow to his company, Erisco Foods Ltd. and also to other Nigerian companies involved in manufacturing.
On October 5, he announced plans to shut down operations and sack some 1,500 workers at his expansive factory in Oregun, an industrial area of Lagos.
The industrialist said that he decided to relocate to China to produce at cheaper cost and then, sell the goods in Nigeria and other African markets, stressing that he would even make more profit doing so.
He said, “This appears to be the only reasonable thing for me to do since my cries appear to have no meaning for those stifling our operations.”
NAN
