Senators to discourage monopoly in free trade zones

The Senate Committee on Trade and Investment will do all it can to remove any form of monopoly that will impede the development of private and public free trade zones in Nigeria.
Speaking after a facility tour of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), the committee’s chairwoman, Fatimat Raji-Rasaki, accompanied by Effiong Nelson and Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, said the fact-finding tour would enable the Senate gather needful information to aid its review of existing laws.
Raji-Rasaki said the Senate was committed to creating a conducive environment that would move the nation’s economy forward by strengthening the laws that govern operation of free trade zones.
Senator Nelson stated that the Senate had already commissioned a team of consultants to review the laws establishing the free zones with a view to strengthening them.
He said the committee was presently looking at 45 laws, especially the ones that encourage monopoly and waivers from an all-inclusive view.
Chairman of LADOL, Mr. Ladi Jadesimi, said he hoped that the visit would convey a different perception of what Nigerians are capable of and pleaded with the legislators to ensure a conducive business environment devoid of policy somersaults that could send the wrong signals to investors.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Local content has promised its support for the LADOL, an indigenous company which provide services to oil and gas industry.
The committee members who were on tour of facilities at the base, said they were impressed by what they saw on ground.
Chairman of the committee, Emmanuel Ekong, called on local investors to emulate LADOL, adding that the committee was ready to partner with any indigenous company willing to invest in the country.