New Telegraph

FG suspends issuance of FTZs licences

The Federal Government has suspended issuance of licenses for the operation of the Free Trade Zones (FTZ) in the country. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, announced the suspension at the inauguration of the panel set up for the evaluation of the performance of FTZs.

 

The minister, according to a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Sayo Ifedayo, directed that all applications for FTZ licenses will, henceforth, not be processed pending the completion of the panel’s assignment.

 

The key objective of the panel, headed by the minister, was to provide a set of recommendations to inform government strategy on FTZs based on a thorough evaluation of the current operations.

 

Besides, the panel would work through context of the terms of references provided to deliver a clear and detailed report within eight weeks of inauguration. The panel, which also has the Minister of State in the Ministry, Amb. Mariam Katagum, as member, will map out and implement clear strategies to evaluate the operations of recipients of FTZ licenses for the purpose of delivering worldclass FTZs as expected under the Presidential Priority Projects (PPP). Adebayo lamented that FTZs in the country have not performed to expectations in terms of impacting positively on the industrial development of the country as witnessed in developed countries.

 

“It is important to note that FTZs in most developed countries have contributed successfully towards their industrialization process. The model was adopted by the Asian Tigers and today, most countries, including African countries, are beginning to key into the idea.

 

“Currently, the performance of FTZs licensees has been below expectation and this heavily impacts our ability to deliver on crucial priority areas of the government. FTZs are key to the nation’s push towards industrialisation and will have a significant impact on Nigeria’s trade and economic fortunes which is greatly required, given the current economic challenges.

 

Globally, FTZs account for 68 million jobs and generate $500 billion annually. “The sector can be extremely lucrative if executed efficiently and we must aim to improve the operation of our zones,” he said.

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