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…Backs incumbent management
Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, yesterday, has called on the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) to ramp up its performance and deliver more impactful results. Expressing full backing for the current management, the minister emphasised the importance of strengthening NEPZA’s role in driving economic growth and impacting on the Nigerian citizens.
This was disclosed by Diana-Mary Nsan, Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Industry in a statement.
She noted that during a visit by the top management of NEPZA, led by Managing Director/CEO Dr. Olufemi Ogunyemi, to deliver a progress report on the authority’s activities, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment called on NEPZA’s leadership to focus on industrial matters that will have a significant impact on the Nigerian people.
According to the statement, the Minister emphasised that this approach should align with the current administration’s development agenda. The Minister expressed his readiness to collaborate closely with NEPZA’s leadership to achieve these objectives and stressed the need for continued engagement between the two parties to ensure the success of these initiatives.
In presenting the progress report, Dr. Ogunyemi assured the Minister that NEPZA is committed to repositioning itself through a range of strategic initiatives, aimed at driving continued growth and excellence within the authority.
He stated that the agency has expanded the Free Trade Zones and clusters to 55 across the nation and generated 13,720 jobs in the process.
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Within the year under review, the authority also registered 39 new enterprises, registered three new trade zones, facilitated the establishment of the Lekki Deep Sea Port development within the Lagos Free Trade Zone in record time and brought in significant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into the country’s economy.
Within the period under review, the Managing Director informed the Minister that the work of the authority has led to the inflow of $1 billion worth of investment into the country from the trade zones this year alone. This, in addition to the sum of N425 billion, the trade zones paid as customs duty to the Nigeria Customs.
NEPZA, he said, is engaging with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX), and other stakeholders to draft regulations for listing Free Zone Enterprises on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The listing, he noted, will enable free zone entities to access additional finance through the Nigerian capital market, create a framework for them to contribute to the growth of the capital market and enhance NEPZA’s regulatory oversight of listed Free Zone Entities.
He appealed for the Minister’s support to help the authority overcome a range of challenges, including outdated legal and regulatory frameworks, limited awareness of the Free Trade Zone concept, multiple taxation by revenue agencies, restricted access to foreign exchange, and inadequate infrastructure, among others.
