…as Abiodun seeks FTZ approval for Remo
The Federal Government is pushing for a production-driven as against taxation-based economy to boost the nation’s export capacity and reduce the piling pressure on foreign exchange.
Doris Uzoka-Anite, the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, stated this at the inauguration of two new factories and extension of Tropical General Investment (TGI) Group located on Abeokuta-Sagamu road, on Tuesday.
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Uzoka-Anite said the Federal Government would continue to encourage industrialisation and mobilise resources where necessary to boost economic recovery.
According to the minister, the present administration would also ensure the removal of roadblocks that could hinder businesses from thriving in the country, adding that “The challenge of unemployment, pressure on foreign exchange and economic diversification is one that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined to tackle conclusively.
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“Manufacturing and value chain addition is necessary for the overall development of our country. There is no way around it; the cause of inaction is huge and we cannot afford it.”
Earlier, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State appealed to the Federal Government to approve the operation of the Remo Economic Zone located close to a soon-to-be-commissioned Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport, as a free trade zone. The governor noted that the approval was needed to enable processing companies that had signed to process their raw materials in the zone.
Abiodun was optimistic that the zone would record multiple processing companies willing to sign up to begin work in the zone in the next one year if the approval was given, saying out of the six special agro-processing zones, the state has the highest number.
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“We have impending applications for the Remo Economic Zone in your office as a Special Economic Zone that enjoys the status of a free trade zone, and the reason for that is very simple.
“The entire economic zone is being developed in partnership between the state government and the third party, and we have located the airport as one of the enablers of its own. Part of the requirements that we signed with our partner was that this economic zone would be a free trade zone.
“It allows all the processing companies all over the world who have already signed to process in that zone to process the raw materials that will be brought from all over the state and the zone. They can export them to other parts of the continent,” he said.
Roy Deepanjan, the executive director, of Food Distribution, at Tropical General Investment (TGI) Group, noted that about 80 percent of the raw materials used by the company were sourced locally. He said that the company was proud to be associated with the state.
