Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, has said that investments in the Nigerian Free Trade Zones (FTZ) have reached $56 billion over the past 30 years.
Adebayo said at the 30th Anniversary of the FTZ organised by the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) on Wednesday in Abuja, that the investments in the zones had contributed significantly to the economy of Nigeria.
He explained that the Nigerian industrialisation drive was zeroed on the FTZ concept in 1977 and that it was not until 1992 that a pragmatic step was taken with the enactment of the Nigeria Export Processing Authority Act 63, leading to the establishment of the premier Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Calabar, which later became the Calabar Free Trade Zone.
According to the minister, the desire to use the free zone as an economic tool to spread development spurred the government to widen the scope of the operation by enacting the Oil and Gas Free Zone Act CAP 05 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, with a specific mandate to license, regulate and administer investments in the oil and gas sector of the economy,” local media reports on Thursday quoted the minister as saying.
Adebayo stated that the NEPZA and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) have over these years driven Nigeria’s economy by using the free zone business ecosystem to contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“It is interesting to note that NEPZA has within its controlled zones a total of 44 private free zones in addition to the two functional public zones located in Calabar and Kano respectively with a total investment that stands at 26 billion US dollars as of 2022.
“The agency has also generated 150,000 employment and estimated 250,000 indirect employment in the past 30 years. Also, it gladdens my heart to report that OGFZA has used the Oil and Gas Free Zones to attract over 30 billion-US dollars of Foreign Direct Investment into our country.
“It has equally created over 50,000 direct employment and estimated 160,000 indirect employment respectively. The free trade zone scheme in Nigeria is beginning to make much meaning as its impact is now being significantly felt,’’ he added.
The Managing Director of NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, said in his speech that the NEPZA exercises regulatory oversight on 46 Free Trade Zones, out of which 44 are private-owned and two fully owned and managed by the Authority on behalf of the government.
“These business enclaves harbour over 600 enterprises providing 150,000 direct employment and an estimated 400,000 indirect employment. To date, the zones have attracted over US$30 billion in investments which are expected to exponentially increase in the next few years with our sustained incentives and aggressive investment drive across the world,” he said,
GIK/APA