Forex crisis: We cannot survive this anymore, Manufacturer tells Buhari

- Nigerian companies are struggling to stay afloat this period

- This is due to the unavailability of forex for companies to trade

- The CEO of May & Baker, Mr Nnamdi Okafor is the latest business leader to voice out his concerns

The Chief Executive Officer of pharmaceutical giant, May & Baker, Mr Nnamdi Okafor has described the present times as one of the toughest economic turmoil business leaders have ever seen.

Okafor lamented over the non-implementation of a recent directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The CBN had directed that commercial banks and other authorised dealers in the foreign exchange (FX) market should channel 60 per cent of total FX purchases from all sources (interbank inclusive) to end users strictly for the purpose of importation of raw materials, plant and machinery.

Okafor said: “I can confirm to you that, as a company, we have not been able to access official forex allocation in the past six months.

“In fact, some of the Letters of Credit we opened as far back as the 4th quarter of 2015 have not been funded by the banks.”

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Nairametrics quoted the CEO as saying over 98 per cent of raw materials used for vaccine manufacturing locally are being imported which makes their situation worse.

He continued: “I can tell you that we cannot survive this anymore, it is not something we can live with any longer.

''By the first quarter of next year, most factories that are still standing will begin to shut down operations because the situation with forex is getting worse day by day.

“For the past six months, it has been challenging to cope with manufacturing. It was a bit better in the first half of the year because you could get allocations, may be 20 per cent of your requirements but in the past six months, we have not got anything from the banks on forex.

“So what this means is that we have not been able to order for raw materials that normally by now should be sealing into Nigeria for next year.

“As a business, we are now proactively looking at how to handle the situation early next year, but believe me it’s going to be tough. And we are positive that by the first quarter of next year Nigeria will handle the issue of Niger Delta region.”

Similarly, some foreign airlines operating in Nigeria are considering gradual withdrawal of operations from some Nigerian routes due to forex crisis.

The airlines decision is informed by their inability to fully repatriate funds that are stuck in the economy.

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In a related development, Nigeria's finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun has assured business owners and investors that the CBN will completely eliminate black market Bureau De Change operators.