Nigerian government to review operations of Free Trade Zones

Mr Olusegun Aganga, Nigerian Minister of Trade and Investment (R) and Senator Liyel Imoke, Cross River State Governor

Nigerian government to review operations of Free Trade Zones
Hauwa Noroh Ali, Abuja

The Nigerian government is to carry out a comprehensive review and restructuring of the operation of ‘Free Trade Zones’ (FTZs) across the country.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, stated this during an inspection tour of the manufacturing and trade facilities at Calabar Free Trade Zone and Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort in Cross River State.

The Free Trade Zones initiative

FTZs are special industrial and commercial zones set up by the Federal Government to facilitate inflow of Foreign Direct Investment, encourage the manufacturing of goods for export and boost technology transfer and job creation.

Although Nigeria has about 24 FTZs licensed by the Federal Government since 1992, less than 13 of them are currently operational.

 Aganga explained that the proposed review of the operations of the FTZs was aimed at enhancing their capacity to create jobs, generate wealth and contribute significantly towards the nation's economic growth and development.

He stated that the review of the operations of the FTZs was borne out of the need to align them with the ‘Transformation Agenda’ of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Minister stressed that the review of the operations of the FTZs had become imperative given the new mandate of the Ministry of Trade and Investment to facilitate the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments, wealth generation and employment creation.   

He said: "We are going to revisit the concept of the Free Trade Zones across the country with a view to reviewing their operations in order to align them to the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan and the new mandate of the ministry in the area of attracting Foreign Direct Investments, job creation and employment generation. The objective is to make the FTZs functional and efficient and contribute meaningfully to the country's drive towards economic growth and development".

He stated that the inspection of the facilities at the nation's premier Free Trade Zone in Calabar, had afforded him the opportunity to assess the level of implementation of Federal Government’s policies concerning the FTZs, explaining that the ministry would partner the Cross River State Government; the Management of the Calabar Free Trade Zone, and investors to remove barriers militating against the smooth operations of the project.

In his words’ "I have held consultations with the Governor of Cross River State, the Management of the Calabar Free Trade Zone; Tinapa as well as the manufacturers and investors in the FTZs. We have identified the problems militating against the full optimisation of the full economic potentials of the FTZs and what the government needs to do to help actualize these potentials”.

“We have seen the products of the manufacturing companies in the FTZs and the current challenges they face with respect to enhancing their productivity and expanding their operations. This is very important because if productivity is enhanced, the companies will do more business, make more money and create more jobs. The creation of jobs is very critical to the Ministry of Trade and Investment."

He commended the investors in the Calabar FTZ for their confidence in the Nigerian economy and promised that the government would put necessary policies in place to boost their capacity utilisation.

Aganga noted that one of the major challenges was the idea of appreciating the items that were produced in the FTZs.

He observed that Nigerians generally tend to feel that items produced in Nigeria are inferior to the ones imported into the country. Explaining further, the Minister said some of the manufacturers he spoke with confirmed that it was easier exporting their products abroad than selling them in Nigeria even though the products meet international standards.

"This is one of the issues that we need to address so that we can have a healthy supply side. The government also needs to do more to encourage the patronage of these high quality products," he said.

At a meeting with the Minister, the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, said that the state was ready to partner the Federal Government in order to ensure that the Calabar FTZ achieves its mandate to attract Foreign Direct Investment, generate employment opportunities and generate wealth for both the state and the country.

Williams/ Ekata