REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AT THE SIGNING CEREMONY BETWEEN NIGERIA SEZ INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED AND STRATEGIC INVESTMENT PARTNERS AT THE STATE HOUSE ABUJA 8TH FEBRUARY 2019

Protocols

I am delighted to welcome you all to today’s signing ceremony, which is another landmark in our journey to industrialisation of Nigeria and create jobs for our people.

2.     When we committed to the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and launched our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan to fast track implementation, we had a vision of Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in Sub-Saharan Africa and a major exporter to our immediate West African sub-region, the rest of Africa and indeed the World.

3.     Special Economic Zones have an important role to play in our scheme. Special Economic Zones (SEZ) offer investor-friendly incentives, up-to-date infrastructure and ease of doing business in order to attract local and foreign investment and have been used as a catalyst for rapid and inclusive industrialisation, job creation and diversified export earnings in countries with exemplary development records.

4.     Under my direct supervision, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment is implementing Project MINE – Made in Nigeria for Exports – as a Presidential special priority intervention using Special Economic Zones to achieve the objectives of: boosting manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20%, generating $30bn in annual export earnings; and creating 1.5 million new jobs all by 2025. In order to achieve these ambitious objectives, we are implementing a comprehensive plan including but not limited to the following:

a.   We have set up the Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited as a vehicle for participating in Public Private Partnerships involving Federal and State governments and local and foreign private investors. This company will develop new Special Economic Zones all over the country, offering advanced infrastructure and facilities at competitive costs.  The projects in the pilot phase include Enyimba Economic City, Funtua Cotton Cluster and Lekki Model Industrial Park.

b.   We are inviting experienced Special Economic Zone developers and operators to partner with us to upgrade the Federal Government owned Free Trade Zones in Calabar and Kano, to offer first-class standards of infrastructure and facilities.  Whilst we await the completion of the process of bringing in these investors, the Federal Executive Council has approved the award of contracts in excess of N19.45 billion for the needed investment in Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones and work is currently ongoing.  This is the highest amount of capital investment ever in the history of these zones.

c.   We have allocated substantial funds to upgrade the capabilities of management and the systems in the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, to strengthen it as a regulator of our Special Economic Zones.

d.   We are allocating substantial resources to the provision of “outside the fence” infrastructure to ensure that our Special Economic Zones are connected to global, regional and domestic markets.

e.   We are reviewing our incentive framework to ensure competitiveness relative to the other countries with which we are in the race to attract export oriented global manufacturing investment.

f.    We will extend the early successes we have achieved in Ease of Doing Business to the areas critical to globally competitive export-oriented manufacturing operations.

5.     Today, we are here to witness the signing of investment agreements, following which the Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited will become fully operational.  I will like to use this opportunity to thank our investment partners – Africa Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM); Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); Bank of Industry (BOI); Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); and the African Development Bank (AFDB) for their strong demonstrations of support for this important initiative.

6.     Thank you all for coming and may the Almighty God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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