Economy
Procter & Gamble to Shut Down $300m Factory in Nigeria, Sacks Workers
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Renowned and leading Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company, Procter and Gamble (P&G) is planning to shut down its newly commissioned production plant in Agbara Industrial Estate, Ogun State, Nigeria.
A report by Premium Times said the factory, which gulped about $300 million to complete and was commissioned in June 2017 by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had been operating at loss since it started operations.
Frustrated by this, the management has allegedly decided to sell off the plant.
P&G produces popular products like Always sanitary pad, Pampers, Ariel detergent, Oral B toothpaste, Gillete shaving stick, among other products in the Nigerian market.
Quoting a source, Premium Times said about 120 workers are being laid off as part of the shutdown with some of them already receiving their disengagement letters which is to commence next month.
“About 30 staff will be left who may either be outsourced or deployed to our only remaining plant in Nigeria,” a company source informed the newspaper.
It was disclosed in the report that P&G has already sold one of its two plants located in Oluyole Estate in Ibadan, Oyo State as a result of poor earnings.
The company has two production plants in the area, one of which was used to produce Vicks lemon plus and the other Ariel detergent, but the Vicks plant has been sold.
“We had to sell the lemon plus plant in Ibadan. It was not sustainable to continue to run it at a loss,” the source said.
A resident of Oluyole Estate told Premium Times that one of the Ibadan plants, located along Seven-Up Road within Oluyole Estate, is still functioning while the other plant, which has now been confirmed to have been sold, has been moribund for a while.
The P&G source suggested that even the single remaining plant in Ibadan used to produce Ariel detergent is being reviewed.
“We are keeping it open for a while to see if we can sustain it,” the source said.
Insiders familiar with the development told Premium Times that the company is battling with the challenge posed by government policies that regulate importation of raw materials for its production.
A source explained that the cost of importing raw materials was becoming unbearable for the company, which has refused to involve in shady deals in order to cheat the system and ease importation.
“It is so expensive to import these raw materials which are not produced in Nigeria. Other companies take the short cut by manoeuvring the system, but we cannot,” a top official of the troubled firm disclosed.
Similarly, another factor said to be responsible for the shutdown was the unhealthy competition being faced by the company.
“Our competitors invested much less in their factory, can manoeuver their way in the system, and thus produce and sell for much less. We cannot do that.
“Our investment in Agbara is arguably the largest single investment by a non-oil firm in Nigeria. But we just have to shut it. The loss is much,” the source said.
When Premium Times reached out to the corporate communications desk of the company Tuesday morning, a staff of the desk, who declined to make her name known, quickly disconnected the telephone line immediately the questions about the shutdown were put to her.
But in a follow-up call by Premium Times Tuesday afternoon, a customer care attendant of the company told our reporter that no such development had been communicated to the communications team. The staff, who simply identified herself as Peace, said she was not aware of the situation.
“The information about the plant being shut down has not come to our notice. We don’t have the information at hand,” she said.
“So it means the plant is still running. But once we have the information that the plant is shutting down then we can disseminate. But for now we don’t have such information,” she added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.01 per cent on Tuesday, June 23, dragging the market capitalisation down by N25.91 billion to N2.544 trillion from Monday’s N2.570 trillion. Also, the NASD Security Index (NSI) decreased by 43.17 points to 4,239.34 points from 4,282.51 points.
The triplet price losers were Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gave up N4.82 to trade at N75.00 per unit versus Monday’s closing price of N79.82 per unit. NASD Plc depreciated by N3.70 to close at N33.30 per share compared with the preceding day’s N37.00 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc marginally lost 1 Kobo to sell at N21.41 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N21.42 per unit.
Tuesday’s trading data showed that the volume of securities traded by investors retreated by 35.9 per cent to 211,671 units from 330,034 units, and the value of securities fell by 82.9 per cent to N5.6 million from N32.7 million, while the number of deals doubled to 38 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.1 million units transacted for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A 0.11 per cent or N1.53 loss was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, June 22, closing at N1,370.64/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,369.11/$1.
However, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX window during the session by N4.69 to trade at N1,810.75/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,815.44/£1, and gained N5.37 on the Euro to sell at N1,561.02/€1 versus Monday’s exchange rate of N1,566.39/€1.
At the black market segment, the Naira traded flat against the Dollar yesterday at N1,395/$1, and at the GTBank forex desk, it also closed flat at N1,380/$1.
Daily FX update from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that forex liquidity improved, but dollar volume was surpassed by strong dollar outflows on Tuesday.
Interbank FX turnover among financial institutions and market makers experienced a significant surge, reaching $125.314 million across 106 deals at the official window, 92 per cent higher than the $65.206 million the previous day, highlighting robust market activity and growing investor confidence.
Also, Nigeria’s foreign reserves continue to grow, reaching $51.142 billion, up from $51.060 billion reported the previous day, according to the CBN’s latest update.
In the cryptocurrency market, digital currencies fell amid heavy selling in technology stocks, which kept pressure on risk assets worldwide. Also, the gauge of the Dollar climbed to a seven-month high as investors moved toward safer assets.
Leading the losers was Cardano (ADA), as it slid 2.1 per cent to $0.1511. Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 1.3 per cent to quote at $0.0789, Ethereum (ETH) shrank 0.9 per cent to $1,673.38, Ripple (XRP) declined by 0.7 per cent to $1.10, TRON (TRX) also fell by 0.7 per cent to $0.3285, Solana (SOL) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $69.83, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 0.2 per cent to $62,756.99, and Binance Coin (BNB) tumbled by 0.01 per cent to $579.20, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has refuted allegations that its premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, exported to other countries, is being re-imported into Nigeria.
It was claimed that the private crude oil refiner sells PMS to other African nations, especially Togo, at a lower price to the extent that when re-imported into the country, it is still cheaper than what Dangote Refinery sells to Nigerian marketers.
Reacting via a statement on Tuesday night, the management described the allegations as “baseless and unsubstantiated” because they are not “supported by verifiable trade data, commercial logic, or the operational realities of Dangote Refinery.”
The company noted that its core mandate is to strengthen domestic supply and remains a leading provider of petroleum products in Nigeria.
“Any practice that enables imports to compete directly with its own production clearly contradicts this objective,” it stated.
Dangote Refinery said “all sales contracts and tender agreements expressly prohibit the resale or re-importation of Dangote Refinery products into Nigeria,” emphasising that “the economics of the purported trade route are fundamentally flawed.”
The organisation stated that estimated logistics costs for transporting products from the refinery to Lomé and back into Nigeria range between $82–90 per metric ton. Such additional costs would significantly erode margins and render the transaction commercially unviable.
“Dangote Refinery does not provide export discounts sufficient to offset these costs or create arbitrage opportunities between export and domestic markets. Simply put, no rational producer would incur additional shipping, storage, financing, and handling costs only for products to re-enter and compete in its primary market,” it pointed out.
The management also highlighted that the refinery maintains stringent product traceability protocols, including detailed records of lifting points, nominated vessels, counterparties, and declared destinations. These measures ensure full visibility and accountability across the supply chain.
The statement insisted that any “claim suggesting that the refinery facilitates or tolerates re-importation is inconsistent with its contractual safeguards and established compliance standards.”
The refinery said it has consistently advocated for reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products, underscoring that encouraging or enabling re-importation would undermine local refining efforts, strain foreign exchange reserves, and weaken national industrial growth, positions that are contrary to its core objectives.
Dangote Refinery reiterated that there is no strategic, economic, or operational basis for the claim that it exports products for re-importation into Nigeria, stressing that the allegation is entirely unfounded and does not withstand scrutiny when measured against market logic, contractual frameworks, and industry practices.
The statement concluded that “Dangote Refinery remains focused on its mission to enhance energy security, support local refining, and contribute meaningfully to Africa’s industrial development.”
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