President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Free Trade Zones(FTZs) Scheme of the federal government has successfully created almost 400,000 direct jobs, raised over $45.7billion in Foreign Direct Investments(FDIs) and almost N1.5trillion in local investments over the last 30 years.
The president stated this over the weekend at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Africa Economic Zones Organisation in Abuja.
Mr Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Umana said these figures do not even take cognisance of the huge levels of investment going into the Dangote Free Zone, the direct portion of which is over US$13billion.
He explained that these Zones have attracted landmark infrastructure projects that have the potential to transform the Nigerian business landscape.
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He added that the Directorate of State Security Service has collaborated with the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) to train personnel of the Special Economic Zones Security Unit in areas such as economic intelligence management.
In his remarks, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, Managing Director of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), said the operations of the Free Zones Scheme have been insulated from the ever-changing economic policies of the government that may be detrimental to what was agreed on with investors.
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