The Managing Director of Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority, (NEPZA) Dr. Olufemi Ogunyey, said the agency has so far generated N6billion in the first quarter of 2024.
Ogunyemi said the Authority in 2023 generated N8billion, Giving a breakdown of how the N8billion was used, he said N4b was sent to Federal Government account while N4billion was set aside for running of the agency.
The MD spoke during an oversight visit by House of Representative led by the Chairman, Ahmed Munir in Abuja, stating the authority is looking forward to surpassing the N8billion of last year this 2024.
He stated: “The challenges in Free Trade Zones are enormous, as there are lots of conflicts between agencies operating in the zone. Agencies like Federal Inland revenue Service, Customs and NEPZA are all at loggerhead with each other, this is majorly due to the obsolete Act establishing NEPZA since 1992”.
He mentioned another important challenge facing the zone as lack of adequate infrastructure and appeals to the government to address this issue.
He also said when he took over in 2023, he inherited 52 zones, and licenced two more companies, Indorama and Arise.
He called on the National Assembly to help review the NEPZA Act, which has been in existence since 1992,
Munir noted the urgency to reposition NEPZA is now, as he speaks on the National Assembly working on the NEPZA Act. He added that so many bills are piling up, ‘the earlier the House of Representative gets information to work on NEPZA Act the better.
He noted that waiting for Presidential order from Presidency on Act amendment may linger, out of the 52 free trade zones not functioning, we will investigate and get the reason why they are not functioning, we will redirect the operation of the zone to organizations willing to make it work.
