Stakeholders will, on Wednesday, November 30, gather at a conference in Abuja, to discuss ways of further enhancing the attractiveness of Nigeria’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Scheme and how to reposition it for global competitiveness.
The conference and exhibition will also mark the 30th anniversary of the Free Trade Zone Scheme and its contribution to the Nigerian economy. The conference is being organised by the Nigeria Economic Zones Association (NEZ) in collaboration with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, and Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority.
The collaborators will also host the Africa Economic Zones Organisation’s (AEZO) 7th annual meeting between December 1 and 2, 2022 to give investors a platform to share insights and showcase the Nigerian free zones experience.
The NEZ association is optimistic that discussions at the event will help to redefine Nigeria’s special economic zones for the greater economic good.
The theme of the conference is “Nigeria special economic zones scheme: Evolvement, challenges, and way forward to economic growth and sustainability.”
According to the NEZ association, it has become imperative for business and policy thinkers in Nigeria to seek unique ways of optimising the FTZ scheme and positioning it beyond a tool for FDI attraction to being a testing ground for new government policies that address economic realities, while acting as safety nets to cushion their impact.
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It is also crucial to develop or chart a way forward for the scheme to realise its enormous potential and assume its place as one of the key strategic drivers of economic growth in years to come, given the current domestic, regional and continental economic realities, the organisers said.
“As the country marks the 30th anniversary of the scheme, economic experts harp on the need for various authorities and industry players to ensure that the concept is repositioned for global competitiveness and to ensure Nigeria taps adequately into the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA),” the association pointed out.
It further noted that it was crucial that Nigeria does not lose sight of future threats and opportunities; hence, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the scheme does not become obsolete, but strengthened to become the socio-economic development tool that adapts easily to changing regional and global trends.
The FTZ scheme -a global economic model to aid widespread economic growth was launched by the Nigerian government on November 30 1992, in a bid to chart a new policy direction for industrial growth and development.
The objectives of the scheme encompass industrialisation, export promotion, skills acquisition, technology and knowledge transfer, job creation, export diversification, attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI), among others.
