In a bid to boost the influx of both local and international investors to the 41 Free Trade Zones strategically located in the Country, the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA has sought and secured the partnership of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC.
The Managing Director of NEPZA , Prof. Adesoji Adesugba requested for and sealed the collaborative effort on Tuesday, July 7,2020 when he paid a courtesy visit on NIPC’s Executive Secretary, Yewande Sadiku. A statement by Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communications of NEPZA has stated.
According to Adesugba, It is vital for the two agencies to work together in a more robust fashion, adding that such partnership will provide the antidote to the several encumbrances hindering the smooth operations of the country’s free zone scheme.
“NEPZA is supposed to be on top of its game in terms of promoting investment. The strategies to industrializing the country as it is with other countries must be people-friendly. You have to know your stakeholders very closely to meet their needs and make them happy.
“This is the core mandate of both NEPZA and NIPC. The two agencies have been under carrying out this onerous function and this is why we need to work more closely to ensure the country continues to entice investments into those trade locations.
“Apparently over the years, we do not know what had happened to those locations. Those geographical entities by now should be leading the industrialization process because all the incentives are supposed to be there.
“The collaborative efforts we are going to have with NIPC would be magnetic and very inclusive. We understand, that NIPC has the mandate to assist us to attract and maintain investments by supporting our service delivery process.
“We are, therefore, seeking the cooperation of the Executive Secretary of the commission to carefully monitor us so that the Authority meets the basic tenets of investment promotion. This has become vitally important to position Nigeria to grab a substantial portion of the world’s investment post COVID-19 pandemic. The world is going to be seeking investments after the pandemic and the process would be highly competitive,’’ Adesugba said.
The NEPZA boss also explained that: “we must change our approach to doing things. This period requires extra-ordinary approaches to grab our share of the market’’.
“From the Private Sector perspective, the greatest hindrance to investment is not government, it is not the President either, the agencies are liable. In fact, President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous of doing going things, promoting investments and thank God, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otumba Niyi Adebayo has long caught the dream of his principal, the president as he continues to insist on us doing the right things’’.
“Let me state here that our greatest problem actually lies with the inability of those who should implement the policies of government to achieve the set goals. We must come to the realization that the public sector which NEPZA is part of was set up to make the private sector thrive and to lead the industrialization process of the country,’’ he said.
Adesugba, therefore, said NEPZA’s main aim under his leadership would be to collaborate more expansively with the private sector and all agencies of government involved in Free Trade Zones and Special Economic Zones to spike influx of investments in the country.
“NEPZA is more than before prepared to leverage on the NIPC platform to commence aggressive investment drive, and we seek the leadership of NIPC to always guide us on the positive path in our drive to ensure the country’s economy becomes more robust Post Covid-19 pandemic’’.
“We are bound to follow what President Muhammadu Buhari has asked us to do to grow the country’s revenue base. So, our visit is simply to seek the support and understanding of the commission to assist us to galvanise the buying-in of relevant agencies and investors to achieve our mandate,’’ Adesugaba said.
Yewande Sadiku, the NIPC Executive Secretary, expressed delight on the appointment of the new NEPZA boss, as according to her, he is a proven technocrat with the right wealth of knowledge to carry NEPZA to the zenith.
“The Commission is ready to support NEPZA to succeed. Such partnership is needed even among all agencies of government as no man is an island,’’.Sadiku said.
She promised to support the Authority in devising and implementing the approaches to attract and maintain investors, adding that NEPZA had a great platform to drive the country’s industrialization to an expected end.
“Prof Adesugba retired as a Director from NIPC and I have heard about his contributions and great exploits in the commission. I, therefore, see you as someone with a great reputation and an asset to NEPZA having worked in NIPC.” Sadiku said.
