Use of undeclared identifier after if/else if branch

P* pFactory(const std::string& pName){
    if (p == "s")
        SP newP;
    else if(pName == "f")
        FP newP;
    else if(pName == "l")
        LP newP;
    else if(pName == "i")
        IP newP;
    else if(pName == "g")
        GP newP;
    else if (pName == "n")
        NP newP;

    P* p_ptr = &newP;

return nullptr;
}

Basically, the function is supposed to return a pointer to a new P object that gets made depending on the pName input. I'm getting a Use of undeclared identifier 'newP' error on the pointer line.

I thought it could be because there's no final else so the object might never be created, but replacing the last else if with else didn't help. What's causing this error?