FG created 43 trade zones to tackle unemployment – NEPZA

The federal government created 43 free trade zones across the country to create employment opportunities and reduce youth restiveness, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba has said.

According to him, the free trade zones as well as special economic zones “Provide the panacea to reinvigorate the non-oil sector in the face of dwindling and unstable revenue from oil, rising demand from foreign exchange, insecurity, external debt, etc.”

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Adesugba spoke in Lagos during the breakfast forum tagged, “Non-Oil Exports: Situation Report and Way Forward” organised by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC).

Represented by an Assistant Director in the agency, Mr Augustine Onyekwelu, the MD said in these trying times of youth restiveness, the free trade zone is a veritable tool to tackle the problem of unemployment in addition to improving exports of non-oil products. The NEPZA boss also hinted that the free trade zones would encourage skills acquisition/technology transfer, attract foreign direct investment and promote diversification of the revenue base.

President of the Chamber, Dame Adebola Williams lamented the over-dependence on crude oil exports by Nigeria, noting that the hydrocarbon deposits “Are not only exhaustible but there is a steady global campaign for green/renewable energy.”