Lagos exports goods worth $735.8 million from Lekki Free Zone

Assembly to legislate on care for people with mental disorders
The Lagos State Government has disclosed that it exported finished goods worth $735.8m from the Lekki Free Zone.

Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, made this known at the 2018 ministerial press briefing to mark Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s third year anniversary in office, saying $5.38m was paid to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) as duties.

Noting that the Lekki Free Zone remains the flagship of the state government’s industrial development initiatives, she said its joint venture with the Chinese Consortium has equity investment of $180.4m and $140.20m foreign direct investments (FDIs).

“The emerging industrial revolution in the Epe-Ibeju-Lekki axis of the state with particular reference to the development of the Lekki Free Zone, Lekki Deep Seaport, Dangote Refinery and Fertiliser plants, as well as the Lagos Free Trade Zone, placed Lagos on the world map, as a preferred investment destination,” she added.

She said with the huge investment going on in that axis, the state government plans to provide a holistic inter-modal transportation network comprising rail, road and water transport systems.

This, she pointed out, would mitigate future traffic congestion in view of the estimated 6,650 trucks movement within the corridor daily when all the ongoing businesses come on stream.

“In realisation of the enormity of the required funding vis-a-vis the compelling need for transportation infrastructure, notably road and rail within the Lekki Free Zone corridor, the state government has encouraged investors to express interest in one of the planned axial roads that would take vehicular traffic away from the adjoining towns of the area.”

Oladunjoye also noted that Governor Ambode’s administration took steps to boost the economic potentials of the cooperative sub-sector to strengthen the Cooperatives Department domiciled in the Ministry of Agriculture to Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives.

She said this development and efforts to turn cooperatives into an instrument of economic growth and business prosperity was beginning to yield dividends, as the cooperatives investment in the state economy had increased to N152b in the last three years.

Meanwhile, the state House of Assembly is set to make a law that would regulate and care for persons with mental disorders.

Titled: A Law To Provide For Mental Service Bill, 2018 scaled through second reading during plenary yesterday.