The Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones Authority (OGFTZA) attracted the sum of $16.6bn in Foreign Direct Investments between 2001 and 2020, its Managing Director, Mr. Umana Okon Umana has said.
The Managing Director, who disclosed at a media parley with journalists at the weekend in Abuja added that the agency also attracted N255.33 billion local investments.
Umana explained that between January and May this year, the sum of N9.41 billion has been generated as revenue by OGFZA through the free trade zones.
A breakdown of the revenue showed that N2.1 billion was generated in January, while February, March, April and May had N1.45billion, N4.39billion, N1billion and N453.98million respectively.
He further said that the agency , had in tye last few years, improved it’s operations. According to him, this was achieved through dedication and commitment of all stakeholders.
He said this was achieved through dedicated leadership as well as the commitment and exceptional quality of members of staff of the Authority.
This, he stated, had resulted in the huge interests by both local and foreign investors in the zones.
For instance, the MD stated that the agency is currently expecting a N6.1billion investment in the Liberty Oil and Gas Free Zone.
He said, “To grow investment also meant looking at the structures within our zones because as I said you can only attract Foreign Direct Investment 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. It will take seven days to renew license when all the the requirements have been met and it will take 21 days to issue a new license and when all the requirements have been met.”
On job creation, the OGFZA helmsman said the various investment have unlocked jobs in the process empowering many Nigerians.
For instance, he said between 2005 and 2015, the authority has created 40,508 direct jobs and indirect jobs with conservative estimate at about 160,000.
