Japanese companies endorse Lagos Free Zone

On February 14, 2020, a group of Japanese companies was hosted on a tour of Lagos Free Zone – “The Gateway to a New Frontier”.

Lagos Free Zone is in “The New Lagos”, a name earned by Ibjeu-Lekki region, one of the fastest-growing LGA’s of Lagos State. This region is home to several reputable brands such as Kellogg’s, Colgate, Dano Milk, Indomie and BASF, all of whom have manufacturing facilities in the Zone.

Lagos Free Zone also houses Lekki Deep Sea Port which is poised to contribute about 3% to the national GDP by 2025. This makes the Zone well connected to regional and international routes while offering investors access to an enormous consumer market across Nigeria. The deep seaport will be operational by the second quarter of 2022.

Once fully developed Lagos Free Zone will house over 150 industries in different sectors from FMCG to Engineering and Pharmaceuticals, bringing in billions of dollars in foreign direct investment to Nigeria. The Zone will also serve as a logistics hub for West Africa and have a real estate cluster, creating a complete live -work- play environment.

Lagos Free Zone is promoted by Singapore-based, Tolaram Group. With the presence of a one-stop-shop clearance, Lagos Free Zone is changing the narrative around the ease of doing business in Nigeria. The facilities on ground include an operational truck pack, emergency response medical facility, and a central processing center which hosts agencies like the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). In line with its commitment to the Ease of Doing Business, Lagos Free Zone provides and maintains internal infrastructure in the industrial complex including streetlights, warehouses, access roads, drainage, amongst others for all investors.

Trade Commissioner and Managing Director of JETRO Lagos (Japan External Trade Organization), Mr. Shigeyo Nishizawa said “Since the last time I held a meeting with Japanese companies’ MDs in December, I found that the MDs were interested in the Lagos Free Zone, hence I decided to hold a site visit. Over 40 officials visited the site. The participants were not only food manufacturers, but also home appliances, vehicle manufacturers, medical equipment manufacturers, overseas traders, and government agencies. We were pleased to have been received by Mr. Haresh Aswani, MD of Tolaram Group and Mr. Dinesh Rathi, CEO of LFZ. We checked the site and Lekki deep seaport construction progress and understood that the LFZ will be a real game-changer of the Nigerian economy. “Seeing Is Believing”. I recommend many businesspersons to come and see what is happening in the vibrant future of Nigeria.”

The tour was organised by the Japan-Nigeria Business Facilitation Council (JNBFC) in collaboration with the Lagos Secretariat – Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).