Local Producers Of Energy Drinks Urges The Government To Protect The Jobs Of 2,000 Nigerians
Energy drink manufacturers have urged the federal government to defend the more than 2,000 Nigerians who are directly employed in the manufacturing sector by stopping the importation of inferior foreign beverages.
Additionally, they encouraged the government to put the health of its people first by preventing the importation of harmful foreign goods.
They claim that the majority of imported beverages burst on the open market because they couldn’t sustain Nigeria’s warmth during storage.
Ayodele Joseph, Director-General of Africa Brands Group, stated in a press release over the weekend: “There is a need to prevent the dumping of cheap foreign goods in Nigeria.”
He said that a prohibition on energy drink imports would increase local production investments, increase capacity utilization, and boost exports of foreign currency.
“We need to stem the tide of Nigerian companies relocating to neighboring countries due to the seemingly hostile production environment. Nigeria needs to protect high investment and employment opportunities in all associated companies,” Joseph added.
To avoid the abrupt collapse of the over $500 million investments in the local energy/health drink manufacturing businesses, the manufacturers requested immediate action.
“We hereby request urgent addition of energy or health drinks to the Nigerian import prohibition list,” they appealed.
The business owners observed that investments in adjacent businesses were already being impacted by the unanticipated fall in the local production of energy drinks.
They also said that: “Nigeria’s external reserves need to be preserved for only essential imports. From the time of the last review of the import prohibition list, over 10 brands have invested in the local production of energy or health drinks. As of date, the total investment is over $500 million.”
