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| Niyi Adebayo, minister of Industry, Trade and Investment |
The minister made the disclosure at the official
commissioning of the Nigeria Economic Processing Zones Authority Lagos office
named after him on Friday.
Adebayo said that with the generous fiscal incentives
associated with the free zone, the scheme remained a veritable source of
economic development.
He said that the free zone, in 2021, generated N250bn in
both Foreign and Local Direct Investments; N35bn in Customs duty payments and
N65bn in local import/backward linkage.
The minister said that the scheme generated N500m in Pay as
You Earn, 25,000 in new employment and 5,000 transfer of skills.
“The Free Zone Scheme is one of the prime initiatives of the
Federal Government, for diversification of Nigeria’s economic base, in order to
achieve our vision of growing the economy, creating jobs and generating wealth.
“I urge you not to relent in giving it your best in your
service to promote the economic development of our great country, Nigeria,” he
said.
The Managing Director, NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, said
that the choice of Lagos as its liaison office was based on purely economic
considerations.
This, he said, was because 80 per cent of the special
economic zones were located in Lagos and within 100km of its radius.
“Accordingly, this is our way of bringing NEPZA closer to
our investors for sustained customer service, to continually attract and retain
investors.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has directed that the
validity period of licences for operators in free trade zone areas be increased
to five years.
Adebayo gave the directive at a stakeholders forum organised
by the Nigeria Economic Zones Association in Lagos on Thursday.
The programme was themed: “Streamlining Free Zone Operations
for Global Competitiveness”.
Adebayo noted that the ministry had in 2020 temporarily
suspended the issuance of new free trade zone licences, due to the need to
overhaul the system.
He, however, stressed that yearly returns must be made by
the operators following the directive on the licence validity extension.
The minister also tasked the Nigeria Export Processing Zones
Authority and the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority to fully digitalise its
operations before the end of the year.
A statement on Friday released by the Head, Corporate
Communications, NEPZA, Martins Odeh quoted the minister as saying, “Globally,
free trade zones plays a critical role in stimulating industrial activities,
boosting the manufacturing sector and growing the economy.
“Their performance impacts three main areas of job creation,
diversifying government revenue and generating foreign exchange as a well
functional free trade zone in Nigeria can create 300,000 direct jobs.
“Expanding Nigeria’s export capacity needs under the Africa
Continental Free Trade Area mitigates the risk of Nigeria becoming a dumping
ground for imports while also boosting our foreign currency reserves.
“Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to adopt strategies
that would transform them into a dynamic instrument for economic growth.”
The statement was titled,” Free Trade Zones: FG increase
licence validity period to five years”.
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