The Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), says it is targeting over $30b investment to the country’s Free Trade Zones Areas (FTZs) in the next four years, following the Federal Government’s drive to industrialise the country.

The NEPZA’s Managing Director, Professor Adesoji Adesugba, dropped the hint, yesterday, at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja. Adesoji said that their aim is to increase the FTZ investments from the current $22b from the 30 active FTZs across the country.

While listing the benefits of the FTZs, Adesoji explained that the authority is working hard to achieve its goal to provide at least 300,000 direct employment and 100,000 indirect jobs for the teeming youths between now and 2035.

Reacting to claims by the Akwa Ibom State government that the authority has refused to approve a Free Trade Zone for the state, he said the doors are ever open to any interested state to have one.

He used the opportunity to say that there was never a time that NEPZA refused to grant approval for the establishment of an FTZ to any interested state and the fact remains that the Akwa Ibom State government has not officially applied to them requesting for such.

According to him, the importance of the FTZ areas cannot be over-emphasized stating that China has over 1,000 FTZs and that all the developing economies are leveraging on this, which means that Nigeria needs to explore the opportunity to boost our trade and investments across the continent.

He pointed out that to further improve the capacity of the FTZs, the agency is working with relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate infrastructure are put in place, while the proposal to link the zones with railway transportation is a top priority.