Investors who cherish the rule of law are being replaced by those who “partner with politicians”. Atedo Peterside, president and founder, Anap Foundation and Anap Jets, made this deposition Thursday in a post via his X, formerly Twitter, account, while addressing a report that Procter & Gamble (P&G) is halting local production.
On Tuesday, during a presentation at the Morgan Stanley global consumer & retail conference in New York, United States, Andre Schulten, chief financial officer, P&G, disclosed the company’s plan. Schulten said P&G, producer of Pampers, Always, Oral B, Ariel and Gillette, would end local production in Nigeria and switch to an import-only model.
P&G’s change in operating model followed that of Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), both of which had also transitioned to a distribution model by winding down their production operation. Peterside said the exiting investors favoured the rule of law, policy consistency, macroeconomic stability and a level playing field to operate within a business environment.
The investment banker, also the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, said the investors replacing those exiting Nigeria’s business environment are businesspeople who partner with politicians. Peterside further Said that the investors taking over know how to game the system through waivers and exemptions.
Said he: “Another way to look at this @ProcterGamble exit story from @thecableng is that multiple investors who cherish the rule of law, policy consistency, macroeconomic stability, a level playing field etc are running away from Nigeria. “They are being ‘replaced’ only partially by investors who know how to “partner” with politicians and/or game the system through waivers, exemptions etc.”
President Bola Tinubu had said his government removed petrol subsidy and devalued the Naira — allowing the exchange rate to float — to boost the confidence of local and foreign investors.
