Special economic zones attracted $66b to Nigeria, says OGFZA

The Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Free Zones (OGFZA), Bamanga Usman Jada, said the special economic zones (SEZ) have attracted $66 billion in foreign direct investment into the country.

This comes as he was hopeful that SEZs would provide over three million jobs by the end of the year.The OGFZA boss said this when he led a delegation of investors in the zones on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, in Abuja.

The investors include the Global Chief Executive Officer of APM Terminals, Frederik Kinke; COO of APM Terminals Nigeria, Keith Svendson and the Co-Chairperson of Nesgas Producing Limited, Nosa Okunbor.

Others are the Chief Operating Officer of Nesgas Producing Limited, Emmanuel Uwandu; Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of APPL, Stephen Alaekwe and Executive Director of Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Eyoessien Ekpenyong.

OGFZA boss pointed out that Nigeria was increasingly becoming appealing to foreign investors, especially going by the completion of the $112million state-of-the-art facility by the APM Terminals as well as promises made by the APM to invest an additional $500 million in the next four years to boost operational efficiency.

“The SEZs have become magnets for foreign direct investments – thanks largely to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s unwavering support for enhancing productivity and building a resilient economy. More employment and investments are on the horizon due to the recent decisions of international firms to raise their investments in Nigeria,” he said.

He said Shell Nigeria Limited and Shell Energy Nigeria have denied claims of exiting Nigeria, reaffirming that the oil company was rather diversifying and making new investments into a more environmentally-friendly energy source, stating that gas is very critical to national development.