About 1,500 employees of a Lagos-based tomato paste
manufacturer, Erisco Foods Limited, are set to lose their jobs as the firm has
shut down its $150m plant in Lagos.
The Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods Limited,
Chief Eric Umeofia, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lagos, attributing this to
scarcity of foreign exchange.
Following the decision to close down the business,
some of the employees of the firm protested the action on Wednesday. They
carried placards with various inscriptions calling on the Federal Government to
save their jobs.
Umeofia said he decided to shut down for one month
over what he described as frustration in sourcing foreign exchange from the Central
Bank of Nigeria.
According to him, if at the end of 30 days, the
situation does not improve, he will move his manufacturing firm out of Nigeria.
He said, “We cannot get forex to buy machinery. We run
our big factory with forex sourced from the parallel market at the exchange
rate of N450/dollar. The companies that get forex at the official exchange rate
are those that import items included in the list of items not valid for forex.
“We cannot continue this business because we are
running at a loss while importers continue to flood our markets with banned
tomato paste and prevent our products from selling.”
Umeofia said about 1,500 of the company’s 2,000
workers in the Lagos factory would have to go.
Some of the workers, who spoke on the issue said the
decision to close the factory would spell doom for them with an indication that
their jobs were on the line.
“This factory is my only hope and if it is shut down
permanently, it will mess up my home and generate a lot of stigma for me and my
family,” Obinna Ezeugwa said.
Another worker, Ayoola Oladayo, remarked that 5,000
families would suffer if Umeofia made good his threat to relocate his factory
outside Nigeria.
The Assistant Marketing Manager, Kelvin Onyia, a
father of four, said, “Many of us who are bread winners would not know what to
do if the owner moves the factory out of Nigeria.”
Source:The Punch
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Business