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The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, has decorated the Senior Officers for its newly established Special Economic Zones Security, SEZSEC, Unit.
Speaking during the decoration ceremony in Abuja, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo said the Federal Government approved the establishment of the security outfit to further fortify the country”s 46 Free Trade Zones against economic sabotage and to ensure the protection of investments domiciled in those special business areas.
Otunba Adebayo who commended the Managing Director/CEO of NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba for bringing enormous improvement to the operation of the nation’s Free Trade Zones scheme expressed the hope that the new development would further attract more Foreign Direct Investment into the country.
He therefore urged the investing public to see the new security outfit as an additional incentive for assurance that their investment is safe in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Managing Director/CEO of NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba said the security officers were trained for one month at the State Security Service Academy, Lagos to boost the security architecture of the country’s Free Trade Zones across the country.
Prof. Adesugba stated that the establishment of the security outfit would further improve the existing collaboration with the State Security Service, the Police, Civil Defence, Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“The issue of staff and its attendant challenges have been of serious concern in our beloved nation and this bold step will help to build the confidence of investors, owners of enterprises in the zones and prospective investors alike in our management of the Free Trade scheme” He stressed
While commending President Muhammadu Buhari for the commitment displayed by his administration to repositioning the scheme, the Managing Director of NEPZA said the present administration had in the last seven years established 6 Special Economic Zones located in Lagos, Ilorin, Katsina, Benue, Gombe and Sokoto States.
According to him, the new security outfit is already providing the Zones with surveillance, physical Security and procedural checks on trade documentation to abate economic sabotage.
In their separate goodwill messages, the Board Chairman of NEPZA, Alhaji Adamu Fada and the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Commerce, Senator Adenigba Fadahunsi described the setting up of the security outfit as a welcomed development.
They therefore called for continuous support of stakeholders to enable NEPZA achieve its mandate of developing the nation’s Free Trade Zones.
