The Board chairman of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA),Alhaji Adamu Fanda,has advocated the need to cede the operation of Free Trade Zone to the private sector while still reserving its regulatory powers.
He gave the advice when the Senate Committee on Industry, Trade and Investment visited some free trade zones in Lagos.
He said:”The country’s free trade zone can only be successful like those of China and UAE if built on cost benefit analysis. It will be more profitable with the private sector taking full charge while NEPZA supervises”
He added that the Authority would perform better if placed under the supervision of the Presidency, saying that was the position in all of the countries where the scheme had succeeded.
“The United Arab Emirate adopted this scheme in 1987 while Nigeria embraced it in 1992, leaving UAE to just be ahead of us with just five years. UAE has used FTZ to attain inconceivable development strides but our case is different’’, Fanda said.
The Managing Director of NEPZA,Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, said the Authority was working assiduously to ensure that the scheme was turned around to deliver the quantum of deliverables commensurate with government investment in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Industry, Trade and Investment has urged the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) to vigorously push for the amendment of its Act to tie all loose ends in its mandate of regulating the country’s free trade zone scheme without further delay.
Sen. Francis Fadahunsi, Chairman of the committee the perennial crisis between NEPZA and the Onne Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Authority (OGEFZA) must be put to rest, adding, that the existing laws that established both agencies gave them distinct functions.
He said:“going by NEPZA Act 63 of 1992, the Authority is bestowed with the sole mandate of regulating the Nigeria’s Free Trade Zone Scheme. NEPZA by this Act is a regulatory body.”
He explained that OGEFZA was also a creation of the Parliament in 1994 with a clear mandate to operate as a zone in the downstream sector in Onne and Okpokri in River State.
“If the agency wanted to enlarge its powers to cover the entire country, the operators should also come up with a bill seeking amendment of the Act. OGEFZA has never been a regulatory body,”Fadahunsi said.
He said the Committee was more concerned with the two agencies performing their duties to grow employment and revenue for the government, adding that the regular squabbles were clear act of economic sabotages that government would no longer condone.
He expressed satisfaction with the huge contributions of zones and their enterprises to the national economy, adding that the new NEPZA management had ignited the return of confidence and passion of the operators of the scheme.
According to him, while the committee will insist on the operators remaining faithful with payment of levies to the relevant agencies of government, it will, however, ensure that the business environment is made less cumbersome to operate in.
Fadahunsi further said that the zones and enterprises should frequently adopt back-up integration where local partnerships were encouraged for speedy transfer of technology and economic growth.
