The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has said that the proposed Custom Service reform bill will weaken and make Nigeria’s Special Economic Zones unattractive to investors.
In a submission to the ongoing public hearing on the Custom reform bill at the House of Representatives, NEPZA said “Free Zones are areas designated as such by the President to serve as one-stop-shop investment hub wherein incentives are provided in form of tax holidays, simplified Customs and Immigration processes, amongst others, with a view to attracting investors.
The Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, Martins Odeh in a press statement to journalists Thursday in Abuja said the One-Stop-Shop concept associated with FTZ would be eroded if the provisions of the bill are allowed.
“By providing regulations for the free zones, the Nigeria Customs Service would be setting a dangerous precedent, as other agencies would want to do same,” the statement reads.
The Authority held that the development if not nipped on the board would result in either multiple regulations that might be contradictory thereby creating avoidable legal tussles or make registration of enterprises unnecessarily cumbersome and unattractive.
The Authority further submitted that: “the proposed sections of the bill which seek to make the Free Zones Customs- Controlled Zones invariably seek to create antithetical Free Zones Customs Territory alien to the global free trade zone model used around the world.
The free zone regulator noted that the Lekki Free Zone Quadrant comprising, Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos Free Zone, Dangote Free Zone Enterprises, Alaro City Free Zone, among others across the country were alluring testaments of how it continued to fast track Nigeria’s industrialisation.
“Dangote Free Zone, a national asset is a zone with enormous prospects for Nigerian economy. With the heightened insecurity in Nigeria amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, the introduction of a new bureaucratic bottlenecks such as this proposed legal framework would only scare away investors and retard the free trade zone scheme.
The Authority, therefore, urged the National Assembly to be circumspect by avoiding the temptation of allowing any legal framework that would cripple NEPZA and the free zone scheme.