- Begins 29th Nat’l Summit In Delta
BY ROSEMARY NWAEBUNI/PATRICK MGBODO
At least 28 companies in Nigeria’s chemical and non-metallic subsector have shut down or relocated abroad or forced out by a harsh economic climate that has severely impacted their operations since January 2024.
This exodus of companies—averaging nearly three departures per month—set the tone for the 29th annual National Management-Industrial Relations Seminar held by the Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) in Asaba, yesterday.
The National President of the association, Comrade Segun David, criticized President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms as ineffective and disconnected from reality, highlighting that over 26 million Nigerians are now grappling with acute hunger fueled by soaring exchange rates, excessive taxation, and rampant inflation.
‘’The citizens have been turned desolate in their land with flood, kidnapping, banditry and criminality chasing people from their homes. To the government of the day, people are suffering. An angry man is a hungry man. We urge the president to live up to expectations and improve the lot of the people’’ he said.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines, Comrade David said: ‘’this year alone, we have had nothing less than 28 companies in the chemical and non-metallic subsector alone closing down. Some are also in the process of winding down as we speak but for security reasons, I will not want to mention their names.
‘’One of the speakers (during the seminar) talked about GSK under our sector. We know that PZ is winding up. Procter and Gamble, which had left, was also under our sector. There are more. Some of these companies are big and some are small’’ he said, adding that the sector has also seen an insignificant number of new entrants compared to the numbers that have left for good.
At the seminar’s opening ceremony, themed “In-depth Analysis of Interwoven Parameters of Workers’ Welfare, Productivity Growth, and Government Policies in the Chemical Sector,” Minister of Labor and Employment, Mohammed Dingyadi, praised the association for creating a platform to address pressing issues and foster constructive dialogue.
Represented by the Registrar of Trade Unions at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Employment, Mr Amos Falonipe, the minister appealed for industrial harmony among workers and urged patience with the Tinubu administration’s efforts to steer Nigeria out of economic challenges.
The association’s Secretary, Comrade Femi Oke, added that manufacturing companies were struggling under current government economic policies, which have significantly reduced Nigerians’ purchasing power, even as he expressed optimism that ‘’things will get better’’.
Other speakers at the seminar, including the President of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Employees, Comrade Bolarinwa Olusola, echoed similar sentiments.
