By Godfrey AKON
The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, has called on the American business community to explore the unlimited business opportunities provided by the Special Economic Zones across Nigeria.
Managing Director of NEPZA, Dr Olufemi Ogunyemi, made the call on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York on Thursday.
According to a statement by NEPZA’s Head of Corporate Communications, Dr Martins Odeh, Ogunyemi urged the American Business Council, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Africa-US Chamber of Commerce, and other development partners to take the opportunity and invest in country’s Special Economic Zones.
The NEPZA boss, who spoke on “Free Zones and Industrial Competitiveness: Catalysing Investment Through Regulatory Innovation, said the side event was a vital space to match policy action with private capital.
He explained that Nigeria’s Free Zones were not merely parcels of land, but practical business enclaves for industrial upgrading and platforms for credible, regionally scalable investments.
“We are therefore asking U.S. investors and institutions to undertake site visits to Lagos Free Zone, Lekki Free Zone, Abuja Industrial Park Free Zone (AIPFZ), and other Nigerian zones to see infrastructure and anchor tenants operating.
“We are seeking partnership for anchor projects that would transform into Small and Medium Enterprises’ factory shells, creating jobs and promoting local procurement content.
“We also invite investors to participate in co-financing shared infrastructure that enables hundreds of tenant investments and to support the scaling up of production for exports,’’ he said.
Ogunyemi reaffirmed the readiness of NEPZA and its partners to support due diligence, provide regulatory clarity, and facilitate the needed structure for investors who were ready to move from dialogue to signed commitments.
According to him, the country’s foremost Free Trade Zone regulator had dutifully applied some of the world’s best mechanisms to raise the industrial competitiveness of the zones.
‘So far, the scheme has continually raised competitiveness through four linked mechanisms which include: World-class Infrastructure, Regulatory Predictability, Cluster Effects, and Market Access for our operators and investors,’’ he said.
Ogunyemi reiterated that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through NEPZA, would continue to prioritise private capital building infrastructure currently rooted in both the Private and Private Partnership Programmes, PPP, zones, adding that these were the principal engines of the rapid transformation of the scheme in Nigeria.
He further encouraged the prospective investors to consider the vast size of the Nigerian market as a platform for both regional growth and international exports.
