LADOL, Samsung MoU to attract $7 billion FDI

The Federal Government is expecting over $7 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows this year following a successful resolution of a five-year dispute between Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) Group of Companies and Samsung Heavy Industries, which operate at the Lagos Free Trade Zone.

The two organisations had responded to the application of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism championed by the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).

The move finally gave birth to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two companies in Abuja yesterday.

Dispute over land lease between the LADOL Group, an indigenous firm, and Samsung, a Korean firm, started in 2018 with the NPA’s purported unilateral revocation of a 25-year lease approval granted to LADOL and replacing it with a direct lease in 2019.

NPA claimed to have ceded a portion of land belonging to LADOL to Samsung. The controversy had led to the closure of business activities in the zone by both firms with over 3,000 jobs lost.

Concerned by the prolonged dispute, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, waded into the matter, leading to the resolution.