Peter Obi laments GSK’s departure from Nigeria’s pharma sector

Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party for president in the 2023 election, expressed concern about GlaxoSmithKline’s impending departure from Nigeria after 51 years of operations.

This comes after the business announced plans to stop producing vaccines and prescription drugs in the nation.

A third-party direct distribution mechanism for its medicinal products would be used, according to the multinational pharmaceutical corporation.

In a tweet on Friday night, Obi responded to the news, saying that the company’s decision to leave Nigeria was made all the more disappointing by the fact that they no longer see Nigeria as having a promising future as a productive business climate.

According to him, these are some of the consequences of the cumulative poor management of our economy.

“As a result, millions are losing their jobs and our poverty index is worsening, even though we’re already being perceived as the world’s poverty capital,” the post read in part.

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Obi also noted that, “The multinationals that are leaving our country have not only created jobs but have created immeasurable training that contributed immensely to our human capital development over the years.

“Now they are leaving our shores one after the other. GSK which has a manufacturing facility in Agbara, Ogun State on over 25 hectares of land had directly employed over 400 highly technical workers like pharmacists, microbiologists, biochemists, chemists, dentists, doctors etc, and also employed over 1000 other staff.

“It indirectly provided jobs and business opportunities for thousands of Nigerians across the nation. They are now leaving all these behind, and pushing more people back into unemployment.

“I have consistently maintained that in turning our nation around, we must move the economy from consumption to production, part of which included encouraging and supporting local and foreign investments, like GSK, in the country.

“The creation of an environment that creates and sustains multinationals to invest in our country is key to our dream of greatness. In the new Nigeria that we seek to create, the emphasis on production will encourage investors to stay and expand on our shores.”

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