Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has called on agro-food companies to collaborate with the government in bringing down the cost of food in the state.<\/p>\n
He made the call while receiving the senior management team of Olam Agri Nigeria Ltd., led by the Managing Director, Mr Anil Nair, who were on a courtesy visit to the Lagos State House Marina, yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no better security these days than food. Today being the first day of August, you can see in the streets in Nigeria there\u2019s some sort of hunger protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow I wish that you and I after this meeting will make a broadcast that food prices have gone down by 25 per cent, it will be great news for both of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat speaks to the reason why we chose you to listen and hear and be able to work together. You are in a strategic position and you have that structure and that capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The governor said that Olam remained a strategic brand that had caused great turnaround in Lagos State.<\/p>\n
He recalled his days as a banker in the\u00a0 banking sector, saying that Olam was an account that everybody usually wanted to have.<\/p>\n
Sanwo-Olu said everyone wanted Olam\u2019s account for the simple reason that they are fast growing, aggressive and are in an industry that had cheques to deposit on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a company where you need to wait 90 days or 100 days for their cheques. Bankers would hang around their offices, and as the sales were going on, they were just picking the cheques.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for us, as government, we watch that growth. I know you must have gone through your challenges along the line either government policies that have somersaulted or some of your good plans but you stayed the course,\u201d Sanwo-Olu said.<\/p>\n
He urged the brand to consider its longstanding relationship with the state and forge partnership with the state by looking beyond the current economic situation and leveraging it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re also happy that half of your entire workforce are in Lagos. These are all indicators that you are here for the long haul.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond that, I urge you to look at the market, to look at the industry as a critical industry; food security, food systems is as critical as people trying to safeguard either their medical security or even sovereign security in terms of war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe part of the things that you owe the state and the people that have also been loyal to your products is to consider what level of giveback you are making consciously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to use the word, \u201cCorporate Social Responsibility\u201d but what level of slow down in shareholder appreciation are you going to throw back into the system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sanwo-Olu called for a sustainable partnership, saying: \u201cAt a difficult time like this, it shouldn\u2019t be only government reducing cost or that is attempting to have a corner store in the market to buy and sell at reduced prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou must be able to tell your shareholders that you\u2019ve been in this environment for such a long time today that it should not be about profit-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be willing to say let\u2019s even go into this market and just cover our cost, let\u2019s pass on, let the people feel our critical support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we go by our Return on Investment, we should be selling this thing at N5000 but because we are committed and we have also made decent returns in this environment, we are able to say we will sell lower,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The governor said the longevity of the brand was essential than immediate gratification.<\/p>\n
He added that this was the type of partnership that the country and state needed to keep at this period.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of what essence will it be if we cannot guarantee that Olam will be here in the next 15 years?<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to take this message back. The private sector needs to know that there are times when it does not have to be about value to the shareholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the food security that we seek, because of the logistics nightmare that is happening everywhere, and because of the economic challenges that are everywhere. Let us be able to say to our citizens and customers at difficult times, we still want you to see us as partners not as mere people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that\u2019s all you take away from here, I\u2019d be a happier person,\u201d Sanwo-Olu said.<\/p>\n
He called on shareholders and stakeholders to be more deliberate and focus on giving back to the society.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want us all to see ourselves as stakeholders in this environment. It\u2019s not us versus them, we are all joint stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a responsibility to ensure that nothing happens to any of your facilities and warehouses because we know the consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to slow down on shareholders\u2019 return, we need to be alive for us to be be able to earn that dividend,\u201d Sanwo-Olu said.<\/p>\n
The governor further said that economic indices never lasted forever, adding that government and its partners needed to know what their roles are in the area of food security.<\/p>\n
He urged the Olam executives to partner with government in pushing resources and investment into the food sector deliberately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be alive today to be able to make profit tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nair commended the Sanwo-Olu-led administration for its commitment towards empowering its citizens and catering for residents\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has called on agro-food companies to collaborate with the government in bringing down the cost of food in the state. He made the call while receiving the senior management team of Olam Agri Nigeria Ltd., led by the Managing Director, Mr Anil Nair, who were on a courtesy visit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-336652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336664,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336652\/revisions\/336664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}