July 9th, 2017 Editor News 0 comments

Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, has commended Unilever for its long-standing service and commitment to the growth of the Nigerian economy. The minister, who made this commendation during a courtesy visit and factory tour to the manufacturing giant at the weekend, also reaffirmed governments commitment to supporting Unilever in its operation. Welcoming the minister, Siddharth Ramaswamy, Unilever West Africas vice president, Supply Chain, reiterated the companys commitment to the growth of the Nigerian economy through plans to increase its investment portfolio in the country and enhance local manufacturing. According to Ramaswamy, the company, which has been operating in Nigeria for almost 100 years, would continue to invest in the country despite the prevailing economic challenges. Nigeria is strategic to our business operations. This is why we remain committed to the countrys socio-economic development. We currently operate two manufacturing hubs in Nigeria, and we are already taking actions to increase our local manufacturing capacity, Ramaswamy said. There are ongoing investments which will not only provide additional employment opportunities for Nigerians, but will deliver further economic value through the development of a sustainable supply chain structure consisting of local manufacturers, he said. In his response, Onu said the government was working hard to move the nations economy from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy and was looking to partner with organisations such as Unilever to achieve this through synergy with several research institutions under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Visits such as this, he said, were to create an avenue to see how the government could assist organisations like Unilever to overcome challenges by providing enabling environment to grow their business either through incentives or enabling legal framework. We want companies to use more of local raw materials in production processes because when this happens, new jobs will be created, and our GDP will grow, thereby reducing poverty. This can only happen if we work with you and other responsible companies, he said. The minister encouraged Unilever to show more interest in local research in order to improve its production process, while also charging the company to work more closely with FIIRO and other research centres under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

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Minister commends Unilever Nigeria's commitment to growth of national economy - BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)