Unilever charges Nigeria on Post-2015 Development Agenda

Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch multinational company which 50 percent of its global business is domiciled in Nigeria has called on the government to integrate Post-2015 Development framework on the country’s development agenda in order to facilitate poverty reduction, boost job creation and sustainable environment.

Post -2015 is a proposed set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the end of next year.

Paul Polman the global Chief Executive Officer of the parent company of Unilever Nigeria Plc, made the call in Lagos during a business meeting with Nigeria’s Minister of Finance /Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Polman, who was one of the high level eminent persons that advised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the post-2015 development agenda, said,

“A bigger picture of why we are here is to encourage the Nigerian government to put the Post- 2015 Development Goals into their development agenda.

“It is absolutely a must that this country is involved in the post 2015 development goals and I must say the country is blessed to have a minister like Okonjo -Iweala.

Polman, further disclosed that Unilever is investing an additional €1 billion over the next six years to expand its business in Nigeria.

“We are pleased with Mr. President on some of the progress that he has made in the areas of Port reforms and some of the reforms in the aviation, power and telecom sector. As we continue, we see the country is growing in the right direction. The investment climate has continued to be very attractive. There are not many countries in the world that are having 6.54 percent growth, not in Africa or Europe,” he stated.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister said “We are delighted to have Polman here and his team. The fact that the global CEO is here at this time is remarkable in itself because as you know people are saying they will not come to West Africa for business meeting because of Ebola but Paul in his usual characterisitic way is here to show that Nigeria is safe for business people to come to.

“If we have a global CEO of such a company visiting us here and he also came for the World Economic Forum at a time when we have Boko Haram attacks to show that he stands with us. So we are delighted to welcome him again as friend of Nigeria, and we welcome his team and including the managing director of Unilever Nigeria.

“It is important and we believe the Nigerian economy will remain resilient and that people are going to invest in this economy, it is not just about today, they see potentials in the long term.

Vanguard