Prof. Adesoji Adesugba – The Commerce Africa https://thecommerceafrica.com African Reneissance Wed, 11 Nov 2020 17:42:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9 Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones Attract $27bn Investment– Official https://thecommerceafrica.com/nigerias-free-trade-zones-attract-27bn-investment-official/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/nigerias-free-trade-zones-attract-27bn-investment-official/#respond Wed, 11 Nov 2020 17:42:20 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=2634 Nigeria’s investments in the 44 free trade zones across the country currently stand at over $27 billion, the Managing Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Zone Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, has said .

He said the investments are expected to further spur economic diversification and job creation for the youths, adding that but for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dangote Refinery would have commenced operations and opened up the economy quicker and better.

Adesugba, who made this known when Taraba State Governor, Dairus Ishaku visited him in Abuja, said the Authority has concluded arrangements to establish the NEPZA/Taraba State Committee.

The Committee is to work out modalities on how best to promote investments in the agriculture, mining and tourism sectors with a view to creating employment, and increasing internally-generated revenues for the state in particular and Nigeria in general.

While assuring the Governor of the Authority’s commitment to establishing a Special Economic Zone in Taraba, Adesugba urged the Governor to, as a matter of urgency, put in place an investment promotion commission to facilitate the development of the region.

He said: “NEPZA will ensure that the potential of mining, agriculture and tourism available in the state are fully tapped for the benefit of all. We are going ahead to ensure the provision of infrastructure in all the free trade zones across Nigeria, including the proposed establishment of a free trade zone in Taraba State.”

He also assured that NEPZA is going ahead to assist in establishing medical tourism to reduce the over $1billion that is spent yearly by Nigerians on medical tourism.

Responding, Governor Ishaku explained that the government recently set aside over $1 billion to quickly develop her airport runway to help accelerate foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the state.

Ishaku stressed that the project is billed to kick off next year, adding: “We are here at the NEPZA headquarters to solicit advice, support and guidance so that we can immediately kick-start the development of our mining, agriculture and tourism sectors with the aim of creating jobs for our teeming youths and spur our IGR.”

“I can without doubts tell you that Taraba State will be able to generate well over $1 billion yearly from mining, agriculture and tourism if our economic zone is fully developed. Today, we have already engaged over 1,000 youths through agriculture, but we need more. As I speak with you, we are ready to develop these potential spreads across three different locations in my state.”

He added that “There is an urgent need to establish industries to get our youths out of unemployment. The lessons we just learnt from the immediate EndSARs protests is a dangerous case in study; there is an urgent need to create jobs for our people, to enable us restore peace to the states and Nigeria as a whole.”

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Free Trade Zone Scheme Remains Presidential initiative – NEPZA https://thecommerceafrica.com/free-trade-zone-scheme-remains-presidential-initiative-nepza/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/free-trade-zone-scheme-remains-presidential-initiative-nepza/#respond Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:40:15 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=2063 The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), says the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) scheme in the country is a presidential initiative aimed at propelling economic growth through local production.

Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, NEPZA Managing Director said this while speaking with some operators of enterprises in the Calabar free trade zone in Cross Rivers State capital during an official tour of the zone.

Adesugba in a statement by Mr Martins Odeh, the Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA on Thursday said that President Muhammadu Buhari was fully committed to ensuring the success of the scheme.

He said that the Federal Government was aware of the challenges associated with zones’ operations, adding that it considered the prospects and gains to far out-weigh those challenges.

Adesugba, however, said the public and private sectors must agree to work together to jointly solve some of the problems negating the smooth operations of the scheme in the country.

According to him, arrangement to upgrade electricity supplies to both Calabar and Kano free trade zones directly managed by the government has reached advance stage.

“The private zones are gradually out-growing the challenges of power and water supplies; the president is, therefore, committed to making the public zones enjoy similar infrastructural stability,” he said.

He said enterprises in the zones must be allowed to enjoy free tax regime as advocated by the drafters of the concept.

“We must ensure that the public understands the true meaning of the scheme which is simply a business enclave out of the customs area.

“The enterprises operating in the zones are not taxable. This is an aspect where the various tax agencies must come to terms with.

“The scheme could affect government revenue generation in a short term, but will boost local production, create employment, attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for industrialisation in the long run,” the managing director said.

Furthermore, the NEPZA boss urged the staff of the authority in the zone to develop a renewed vigour toward helping in executing the agency’s mandate.

He said that the management would no longer condone ineptitude behaviour from any members of the workforce.

Adesugba, who assumed office as Chief Executive Officer of the authority about three months ago, had embarked on similar familiarisation tour to Kano and Lagos zones respectively. 

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NEPZA Prepares to Tackle AfCFTA Challenges–Adesugba https://thecommerceafrica.com/nepza-prepares-to-tackle-afcfta-challenges-adesugba/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/nepza-prepares-to-tackle-afcfta-challenges-adesugba/#respond Mon, 10 Aug 2020 05:31:34 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=1443 The Managing Director of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba said “with several economic zones all over the country, Nigeria has the capacity to prepare its manufacturing sector for the challenges” that may stem from the operations of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement billed to start January, 2021.
Adesugba, who expressed the optimism while on a familiarization visit to the Kano Free Trade Zone, noted that “the zones, as we have seen, present a functional model to be capitalised upon to grow the economy, to create wealth and engage our teeming youth.”

According Adesugba, who was recently appointed the NEPZA’s Managing Director, free zone model has helped several countries to grow, commending the Federal Government for creating the opportunities through establishing Special Economic Zones.

Adesugba challenged the staff to make the zones fully functional as “NEPZA is key to national economic revival, job creation and Nigeria’s successful outing under the incoming AfCFTA regime.

“I have gone round the various factories and I have seen how vibrant the enterprises are despite the pandemic and funding constraints. We all see great products the factories are producing, strengthening our hopes that NEPZA is indeed a strong platform to enhancing the manufacturing capacity of the nation and widening of its export potentials. The opportunities and potentials are huge.

“It is time to make the economic zones truly functional by serving as true investors’ service professionals. We must assist investors, both those already on site and those that will be coming”, he said, warning that ” we must not scare investors with over -regulation. We must in real sense act more like facilitator than regulator.

“Our job is to support the businesses in the zones ; We should never constitute hindrance on the path of investors. We plead with our sister agencies to understand the free tax and free import duty principle behind all free zones worldwide. Nigeria should not be different or else we become less competitive. The Ease of Doing Business Policy of the Federal Government is clear on all these” , the Managing Director said.

While commending the investors for patronising the zones, Adesugba assured them that the administration of His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to deploy the economic zones as a vehicle for accelerated economic growth, noting ” we are open for business and our zones are set for critical innovations for investors services”

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Adesugba Sets Stage for Ethics, Governance Compliance in NEPZA https://thecommerceafrica.com/adesugba-sets-stage-for-ethics-governance-compliance-in-nepza/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/adesugba-sets-stage-for-ethics-governance-compliance-in-nepza/#respond Wed, 15 Jul 2020 15:43:15 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=1085 The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), says it is focused on scaling up the authority’s compliance level in ethics and governance in line with Federal Government specifications on ease of business.

Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, NEPZA Managing Director made the remark on Wednesday in Abuja while inaugurating a 14-man Freedom of Information (FOI) Act Committee.

A statement by Mr Martins Odeh, NEPZA`s Head, Corporate Communications , said Adesugba said the committee would interface with the public on behalf of the organisation on issues bordering granting of information by Section 2 of FOI Act.

The NEPZA boss said it was expected that the new development would place the authority on integrity weighing scale, adding that the move would also enhance transparency, integrity, accountability, and due process.

“Presently, the Authority has against it two pending lawsuits for inadvertently failing to respond to demands for information by the litigants, just as we have numerous such requests that are yet to be treated.

“I am calling on those who instituted the lawsuits to withdraw same following our moves to do things differently. I also plead with those whose requests are yet to be processed to bear with us.

“I have gone through the FOI Act, and I can see that the Act can easily be breached because of the limited number of days one is expected to respond, but we must comply with the law.

“The committee will henceforth be responsible for the receiving and processing of requests within the stipulated period of seven days.

“I am seeking an understanding of the public as we are prepared to do things differently to ensure full compliance with the FOI Act,’’ he said.

He said upon his resumption, he visited the Nigeria Investment and Promotion Commission that had always ranked high in ethics and governance compliance to adapt their template, and beat them to it in a short time.

The managing director noted that static NEPZA’s website would equally be redesign to give room for more information to be put out.

He said the public was  always eager to know about the accounting procedure, budgeting, procurement process, contracts bidding process and such other aspects that can likely heighten public incredulity.

“The public has the right to know what we do here,’’ Adesugba said.

He said the committee members would be trained to increase their capacities in tracking information within the system,  adding that talks were underway with the Ethics and Governance Institute, Ministry of Justice to build their capacities.

In a related development, the NEPZA boss had tasked the authority’s branch of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) to join forces with the management in delivering on the agency’s mandate.

Adesugba, in a meeting with Mr Samari Yakubu-led executive to discuss the challenges and prospects of the organization, explained that the union must redirect its focus from “combative” to “developmental” unionism.

He added that the agency had a primary mandate of stimulating production, creating jobs, generating revenues, generating Foreign Direct Investment and industrialising the country.

Adesugba further said he was strategically laying a foundation for the establishment of some specialised free zones in the non-oil sector with medical and agricultural products with robust value chains that could re-energise the economy.

He said that staff welfare would be given serious attention as doing so, would enhance productivity and industrial harmony.

Yakubu, had expressed delight on the appointment of Adesugba as the authority’s substantive managing director, stating that his enviable track records in public and private sectors had automatically endeared him to the staff.

He explained that Adesugba’s years of experience in free zone conception, investment promotion and management positioned him as the right person to reposition the organisation, adding that the union has unflinching commitment toward his success.

NAN

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