By Merit Ibe
Kimberley-Clark, maker of popular huggies diaper and sanitary towel, is set to shutdown its Ikorodu, Lagos plant, three years after investing $100m in Nigeria
Sources said the company cited toxic operating space as the major factor pushing it out of Nigeria.
It was gathered that the plant has been producing below capacity from late 2023 into 2024 and as such, it has become economically injurious to remain in business.
Kimberly-Clark began operations in Nigeria in 2012 but stopped due to unfavourable economic conditions after five years in 2019 to later restart in 2021.
The company produces Huggies diapers, sanitary pads, Kotex and other hygiene and personal care products. KC is a listed multinational on the New York Stock Exchange with the majority of its shares held by institutional investors like Blackrock Inc., Vanguard Group, Morgan Stanley etc.
Reacting, an executive of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria MAN Export Group (MANEG), Okhai Ehimigbai, said the ugly development will worsen the unemployment nightmare in Nigeria.
These are great signals that the economy is nosediving and it is another bad signal to foreign investors.
“How do u explain a situation where a manufacturing firm pays as much as N300 million as electricity tariff a month. That is just one component in the manufacturing process. The cost borne by manufacturers is usually transfered to the consumers of the product and these consumers have been impoverished by the various negative policies of this administration.
“Purchasing power is very very low. Hence, you have most industries having there warehouses filled unsold goods as the populace can no longer consume their products.
“Another bomb waiting to explode is the minimum wage that is currently being discussed as I see many industries not being able to pay”, he said.