THE Nigerian government has explained the reason why the renewed $1 billion investment by the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company and its local partner, Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC), is facing a setback.

The presidency gave the reason in a statement titled ‘Explainer: Understanding Coca-Cola’s $1 billion investment’ issued by the special adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday evening, September 19.

The Coca-Cola Company had in 2021 pledged the $1 billion investment but later withdrew from executing the project, blaming its failure on Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment, The ICIR can report.

In an explainer on Thursday, Onanuga asserted that the Coca-Cola company’s failure to execute the project in 2021 had disparaged its renewed effort.

He said the initial pledge by the global beverage company was halted as a result of the “challenging business environment” that prevailed in the country at the time.

“Naysayers and doubters scorned the $1 billion fresh investment pledge in Nigeria made by the company’s global leadership to President Bola Tinubu today in Abuja, saying the company made a similar promise in 2021.

“Yes, the company made a similar promise three years ago. But it couldn’t fulfil it because of the challenging business environment prevailing in Nigeria then,” Onanuga explained.

He quoted the Coca-Cola company as saying that amid its commitment in 2021, the company was hit by excise taxes.

“Our investment pledges are always predicated on a predictable and stable environment. The $1 billion pledge has now been renewed based on the stable environment, which has been promised through the Tinubu government economic stabilisation plan,” Onanuga quoted the company to have said.

At a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, a team from the Coca-Cola Company led by its president and chief financial officer, John Murphy, renewed plans to accelerate the company’s investments in Nigeria to $1 billion over the next five years.

The Coca-Cola company’s renewal interest comes barely one month, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) raised a red flag on its operation in Nigeria.

The consumer protection agency had in August accused Coca-Cola Nigeria and NBC of misleading trade descriptions and presenting unfair marketing tactics in their products ‘Original Taste and Less Sugar’.

The commission found Coca-Cola Nigeria and NBC to have violated Section 116 of the FCCPC Act as well as Section 124 1(a) of the Commission’s Establishment Act.

According to FCCPC, Coca-Cola Nigeria and NBC were guilty of deceiving the Nigerian public by describing the variant of its Coca-Cola ‘Original Taste, Less Sugar’ as the same as its ‘Original Taste’ variant in terms of formulation.

Despite admitting Coca-Cola company’s violation, the commission has yet to ignite the appropriate sanction, have said the issue of abuse of dominance and the appropriate penalty under the FCCPA and Administrative Penalties Regulation 2020 (APR) has been reserved for further regulatory action, with penalties to be imposed in due course.