No fewer than 200 employees of Shoprite, one of Nigeria’s prominent supermarket chains, may become unemployed if the supermarket eventually closes its Kano branch.
Staff at the supermarket disclosed this to Nigeria Info on condition of anonymity, revealing that the employees include cashiers, chefs, bakers, security guards, and cleaners.
Last week, ShopRite’s management announced it would exit Kano on 14 January 2024 due to a “challenging economic situation.”
Game Store, another retail outlet and one of the biggest in Kano, recently exited and ceased operations at the Ado Bayero Mall.
Similarly, Filmhouse Cinema, which operated out of the Ado Bayero Mall also shut down due to low patronage and a rent hike.
Games shut down at Ado Bayero Mall FilmHouse Cinema shut down In Ado Bayero Mall
It is Normal Practice for Tenants to Come and Go -Mall Management
The management of the mall said it was unhappy with ShopRite’s decision to withdraw its operations in the State.
A statement by the mall’s director, Ike Okeke, notified journalists that the management has moved quickly to invite other investors to fill the vacancy.
“Over the ten years that the company operated out of the premium Ado Bayero Mall in Kano, we have enjoyed a cordial and mutually beneficial relationship and always extended to them the famed social and business-building support all tenants in the mall enjoy,” Okeke’s statement read.
He added that it was the responsibility of all investors at the mall to make their business decisions without interference from the management as is normal practice for tenants in all malls around the world to come and go depending on how their interests are served or otherwise.
Apart from the loss of jobs for Kano residents, an economist, Dr. Abdulsalam Muhammad Kani said ShopRite’s exit will reduce Kano State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and Value Added Tax (VAT).
He also urged all the concerned parties to settle their differences.
Deputy Senate President Intervenes
But the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, Tuesday set machinery to halt the moves by Shoprite.
A statement by Senator Barau’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, said the Deputy President of the Senate will meet with the company’s management this week in Abuja over the matter.
The statement read, “The Office of the Deputy President of the Senate has set machinery in place to halt the exit of Shoprite from Kano State.
“His Excellency, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I Jibrin, CON, will meet with the management of the company this week where the issue will be discussed and hopefully resolved.”
The statement further said ‘’Yes, it is a pure business issue, but we will see what we can do to encourage them to rescind their decision and stay in Kano.
“As we all know, there are enormous business opportunities in Kano, the Commercial Nerve Centre of Northern Nigeria. At a time when we are scouting for investors, we will not fold our hands and allow them to leave.”
3,567 Jobs Lost in 2023 -NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics reports that Nigeria’sunemployment rate dropped from 33.3 percent to 4.1 percent and that about 3,567 jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector in the first half of 2023 alone.
The sharp drop in the unemployment rate was due to a new methodology used by the NBS which considered people previously classified as “underemployed” as being employed.
Some economic analysts have faulted the methodology which they say is political.
In November 2022, an NBS report revealed that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor; a situation that is believed to have been worsened by the inflation induced by the removal of petrol subsidies in the second half of 2023.
