The
The management of the
The matter was referred to the
The two companies were expected to appear before a Public Hearing organized by the committee to hear submissions from both parties.
However, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Patrick Akinyelure (Ondo Central) told reporters that the committee decided to mediate between the parties behind closed doors to ensure amicable resolutions.
He said that the Committee gave the parties two weeks to come up with resolutions that they adopt upon which the committee will make its report to the
Akinyelure said: 'Essentially we are stakeholders in this country and as democratically elected representatives of this country in the red chamber, our position in issues like this is to find a middle ground to ensure that these big players, none of them goes under.
'We looked at it from submissions from both sides; we found out that there are some misconceptions.
'There are three dominant players in the soft drink industry. We have
'We appreciate as senior citizens of this country that
'They have only one plant and they have been able to do the magic through the dedicated team of management staff.
'Within four years, they were able to compete favourably with Coca-Cola and Seven Up and by market rating they have the market rating.
READ ALSO: Army University Bill scales first reading in
'When we heard from the Seven-UP management, they appreciated the competitiveness of
'We have been able to sit the two management together because we believe it is an issue that can be resolved through Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism that will bring more result to this country than damaging a wholly owned indigenous company that is competing favourably and we encouraged them to ensure that the issue is resolved amicably.
'At the end of the meeting we had this morning, I decided to hold a closed door meeting in my office attended by senior members of the
'We told them that we don't want this issue to cause any harm because if a company that is engaging over 2000 Nigerians at a time and the other one about 5000 Nigerians, it is our wish in the
'So we resolved in the Committee that we give them about two weeks to go and come back with resolutions that would be adopted by both parties and then we will make our report to the
© Pakistan Press International, source