The Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones Authority(OGFZA) attracted the sum of $16.6bn foreign direct investments into the economy within a 20 year period covering 2001 and 2020.
It also fetched the sum of N255.33billion local investments into the country.
Mr. Umana Okon Umana, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, OGFZA, who disclosed these during an interactive session with journalists at the weekend in Abuja, said between January and May this year, the sum of N9.41billion has been generated as revenue by OGFZA through the Free Trade Zones.
Speaking on the developmental impact of the agency, Umana said that within the last few years, there has been great improvement in the operations of the free zones,adding that this was achieved through dedicated leadership as well as the commitment and exceptional quality of members of staff of the Authority.
The development has paved way for the huge interests by both local and foreign investors in the zones.
He further disclosed that currently, there are about N6.1bn investments that are being expected to materialise in the Liberty Oil and Gas Free Zone.
He said, “To grow investment also meant looking at the structures within our zones because as I said you can only attract Foreign Direct Investment if you are globally competitive. We took a number of steps, we reviewed our standard of operation, we came out with timeline for delivery of our services.
“For example, in the past we did not have a specific timeline for renewal of license or to reissue new licenses or even to process cargos.We came up with specific timelines. We say for example, that we will take only 48 hours to clear cargos, if the cargos where consigned in free zones. It will take seven days to renew licence when all the the requirements have been met and it will take 21 days to issue a new licence and when all the requirements have been met.”
He stated that the investments in job creation have been able to unlock many direct and indirect jobs thereby empowering many Nigerians.
He said between 2005 and 2015, the Authority created 40,508 direct jobs and indirect jobs with conservative estimate of about 160,000.
“This incentives are applied for activities within zones meaning that when they move items from the Zone to any other place all the taxes will be applied. A number of individuals that have been trained by expertise and various companies that come in, the actual figure from 2010-2020 was 35,170,” he explained.
