By Henry Uche
As part of its efforts to revitalise the economy, the Federal Government through National Council on Privatisation (NCP) , Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE) in conjunction with Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has declared open the opportunity for the concession of the Calabar and Kano Free Trade zones in a bid to make them world class standard, functional and globally competitive.
The Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment (FMITI) Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who made this known in Lagos decried the cumulative investment earnings of about $20billion from the Calabar and Kano Free Trade zones when compared viz-a-viz with what other African countries have earned from their trade zones.
The minister, while declaring open the road show for the concession of the aforementioned trade zones (formerly Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Nigeria, said the concession was encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020) and the current National Development Plan is to accelerate the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) through the use of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in order to create jobs, promote exports and boost growth and development.
While speaking on behalf of the NCP, the FMITI and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), he stressed that it was the desire of the Federal Government to accelerate the pace of economic growth and development of Nigeria.
“The ultimate aim for the free trade zone scheme is to attract foreign direct investments, generate employment, enhance trade and industrialization, promote exports, enhance foreign exchange earnings, encourage transfer of technical know-how.
“Other countries have leveraged FTZs, which are designated areas for promoting trade openness and investment facilitation, as a dynamic instrument for growth and development. Sadly, efforts to replicate the success of the FTZ model in Nigeria have not recorded the same success.” He confirmed that the two FGN-owned SEZs in their current state could not significantly improve the country’s competitiveness nor help the drive to effect structural change/ economic diversification due to poor infrastructure, reliance on treasury to finance capital expenditure, no link between the industrialization strategy of Government and the zones, limited skills etc.