As Unilever plans $200m investment
The effect of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) out­break in Nigeria is not a threat to the country’s economic growth rate projection, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Okonjo Iweala, has said.
Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this in Lagos at the weekend dur­ing an interactive session with the media while on the business visit of the Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unilever, Mr. Paul Polam to Nigeria.
“We have a team monitoring the economic impact and we don’t feel we are yet at the point where we can say it’s having a huge impact on the economy. There’s been some fall-off in hotel occupancy in Lagos in particular, some meetings have been postponed but you still have other business people who are arriving.”
Ebola has killed at least 2,288 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries on Africa’s Atlantic coast that don’t border Nigeria.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, has recorded 21 cases of the virus and eight people have died within its borders, accord­ing to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Earlier in his address, Polman said Unilever intends to in­vest about $200 million into the Nigerian economy with the setting up of another manufacturing plant in Ogun State.
The Unilever boss said 50 per cent of its turnover is invest­ed in Nigeria, explaining that the country’s operations remain key to Unilever because it controls a larger chunk of Africa’s regional market share, adding that there was no reason half of Unilever’s business should not be in the Africa region.
He explained that the investment was meant to improve on its oral and skin care product lines to further cater for the teeming populace in the country, stating that the investments are tailored to meet the growth target of its business which, he said, should be tripling by 2020.
Polman also disclosed that part of the reasons he was in Ni­geria was to discuss modalities for warehouse expansion and local sourcing of raw materials through the agriculture value chain process.
Based on that realisation, he said plans have been conclud­ed to bring in many more suppliers, saying about 90 suppliers have already signified their interest in the project, with nine firms making strong commitments to invest in the country to help further create a robust supply chain.
He maintained that the expansion of its facilities and devel­opment of logistics are tailored to meet the growth target of its business, which, he said, should triple by 2020.
On Research and Development (R&D), he boasted that the company commits resources far in excess of over $1.1 billion because R&D, remains the strength of the company, which has helped it over the years to produce quality products.

Ebola: Impact on economic growth insignificant –Okonjo-Iweala