European businesses have concluded plans to explore opportunities at Lagos Free Zone as their investment destination in Nigeria, said Adefolu Majekodunmi, president, European Business Chambers (EuroCham).
Speaking during a recent visit of a high-powered delegation to the zone in Lagos, Majekodunmi said the purpose of the visit was to explore the opportunities for European companies and enable them to simplify their investments and operations in Nigeria.
“My expectation is to see several of our organisations that visited today setting up their facilities within the Lagos Free Zone. We do know that many of them have already shown interest in doing this and I think the experience from today has solidified their decision and thought process to make the move to set up a base in the Lagos Free Zone. It has been a very worthwhile experience for EuroCham and its members,” he said.
Dinesh Rathi, chief executive officer, Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), described the zone as the next frontier and the best investment destination not only in Nigeria but also in the entire West African sub-region.
Rathi disclosed that phase one of the Lagos Free Zone, which covers about 45 percent of the 830 hectares area, will be completed by the year 2022. He said the completion of phase one of the zone would be marked by the completion of the Lekki Deep Seaport, scheduled to commence its operations next year.
On the plan for digitization in line with the current global realities, Rathi explained that the process flows within the zone are being set out as a modern smart city leveraging on the latest technologies.
“We would leverage technology not only as an enabler but also as a differentiator. Lagos Free Zone would be a full-fledged digitally-enabled zone. We are currently working with leading telecom and network solutions provider to connect the entire zone with a high-speed fiber-optic network,” he said.
On the competitive advantage of the Zone, Taiwo Ilesanmi, managing director, BASF Operations LFTZ Enterprise, said their experience has been impressive in the last two years of the company’s operations in the zone.
“The Lagos Free Zone team have been very supportive, they extended their full assistance to guide us through the process of setting up our facility and they have also been constantly available to help us resolve any operational issues that arise, efficiently and amicably.” he said.
EuroCham is the organisation that represents the interests of leading European companies operating in Nigeria. While the delegation comprised of c-suite executives from some of the top European companies in Nigeria.
