Union loses 2m members to retrenchment

The National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) on Thursday said that it had lost two million members to retrenchment, due to the impact of economic and trade policies.

The President of the union, Mr Lateef Oyelekan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Lagos that the workers lost their jobs from 2015 to date.

According to Oyelekan, the union which has over four million members in various food and beverage processing companies in the country is worried over the continuous closure of tomato companies.

“60 per cent of the food and beverage companies have been shut and all the workers laid-off because of inability to access foreign exchange and continuous fall of the naira.

“The foreign exchange policy is good but the food and beverage processing companies need it to operate now. The effect of the present forex regime is killing businesses.

“We are appealing to the Federal Government to give us grace of 18 months to be able to access and process local materials and start production.

He said that the listing of tomato paste among the 41 items banned from accessing foreign exchange from the official window by CBN had forced many companies to close shop.

Oyelekan said that the effect of the closures was the increased number of unemployed youths who were daily increasing the insecurity level in the country.

The unionist argued that if 18 months grace was given to the food and beverages sector, the period would enable producers to produce quality goods that would satisfy the needs of the people.

“The drinks produced by breweries in Nigeria have been tested by the headquarters abroad and it on record that our drinks are of best quality.

“That is why the government should support our local producers and give them one year and six months to prepare and start production to be able to create more jobs,’’ Oyelekan said.

According to him, government must reduce export duties and assist producers to get raw materials.

“If given time and assistance we will do well and create job opportunities. We do not need more imported processing food, Nigeria has raw materials,’’ he said.

The union leader called on government to stop companies that had left Nigeria from bringing goods for sale in Nigeria.

“Nigerians must consume what is processed in the country, rather than expired or low-quality imported products. We have the population for any good to thrive. We only need to create jobs,’’ he said.

On the Lassa fever epidemic, the NUFBTE chief advised government to fumigate the environment at least twice a year to guard against diseases transmitted by rodents and other animals.

He also suggested that government should reduce the price of pesticides for people to use the chemical to keep their environments clean.