Stakeholders urge FG to liberalize LADOL Free Trade Zone 

Stakeholders in the martime sector have called on the federal government to liberalize the Lagos Deep Off-Shore Base (LADOL) Free Zone in Lagos to put an end to the chain of monopoly, which they said is hindering the development of the zone.

The Chairman, Concerned Maritime Association, Tunde Hamzat, addressing mediamen in Lagos, said that the monopolization of the free trade zone was making the facility unattractive to investors.

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Hamzat, who is also a Lagos-based investment advisor in the maritime sector, stated that the purpose the federal government set up the Free Zones was to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), generate employment, encourage transfer of technical skills to Nigerians and boost the country’s economy.

“We remember the killing of a Korean working in the free zone in April 2019 by an operative of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Mr. Innocent Oshemi,” he said.

He said activities in the zone were characterised by multiple litigations between the investors and the zone manager, adding that the  NPA  alleged that LADOL short-changed the federal government to the tune of N16 billion.

“Indeed, stories coming out from the free zone have become too scary for investors to stake their money,” he said

A Delta State-based analyst, Mr. Nelson Peters, pointed out that as the agent of a regulator (NPA), LADOL also exercised governmental and regulatory powers over all enterprises within the zone.

“It is evident that this monopolistic tendency has frustrated the free zone operator’s crucial role of attracting investors as it now focuses on pursuing its pecuniary benefits to the detriment of foreign and local investors in the zone and the Nigerian economy,” he added.

Speaking in a similar vein, a Bayelsa State-based oil services provider, Mr Akpan Ekong, stressed that the over 121 hectares of land were too big to be managed by the Global Resource Management Free Zone Company (GRMFZC), an affiliate of LADOL.