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 to our
correspondent, 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.”
Punch.ng
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