The Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones Authority (OGFZA) has attracted Foreign Direct Investment worth $16.6 billion.
OGFZA said the FDI was the period covering 2001- 2020 aside N255.33 billion worth of local investments it also attracted within the period..
The Managing Director, OGFZA, Mr Okon Umana, said that between January and May 2021, the sum of N9.41 billion had been generated as revenue by OGFZA through the free trade zones.
“The revenue showed that N2.1 billion was generated in January, while February, March, April and May had N1.45 billion, N4.39 billion, N1 billion and N453.98 million respectively,” Umana said.
He added that efficient services delivery on the operational side of running the free trade zones had greatly improved through dedicated leadership as well as the commitment and exceptional quality of members of staff of the Authority, and that N6.1 billion worth of investments were expected to materialise in the Liberty Oil and Gas Free Zone.
“To grow investment also meant looking at the structures within our zones because as I said, you can only attract FDI if you are globally competitive.
“We took a number of steps, we reviewed our standard of operation, we came out with timeline for delivery of our services.
“For example, in the past we did not have a specific timeline for renewal of license or to reissue new licenses or even to process cargos.
“We came up with specific timelines – we say for example that we will take only 48 hours to clear cargos, if the cargos where consigned in Free Zones,” he said.
