{"id":16560,"date":"2019-04-03T19:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T19:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16560"},"modified":"2019-04-03T19:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T19:00:27","slug":"controversy-over-nigeria-sez-investment-company-ltd-crying-wolf-where-there-is-none-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16560","title":{"rendered":"Controversy over Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Ltd: Crying wolf where there is none \u2013 Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Release<\/strong>
\nBy Femi Adesina<\/strong>, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity)
\nThe Presidency notes reports in sections of the media about the status of Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited (NSEZCO), also known as Nigeria Special Economic Zones Company Limited.
\nWe wish to confirm that NZESCO was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle to deliver Project MINE (Made in Nigeria for Exports), which is a Presidential initiative.
\nThe Federal Government\u2019s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) identified the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as a major strategic tool to accelerate the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).
\nProject MINE was envisioned by the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (MITI) to develop SEZs to world-class standards and position Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in sub-Saharan Africa and a major exporter of made in Nigeria goods and services regionally and globally.
\nIndeed, Project MINE was necessitated by the following factors:
\n\u25aa Lack of operating competitiveness that limits the growth of the zones, despite the presence of generous fiscal and regulatory incentives.
\n\u25aa For government-owned SEZs, there were limited Federal budget allocations to make the required investments in infrastructure, operations and management services;
\n\u25aa The need to develop the skills and experience to operate and manage the zones to world-class standards of efficiency;
\n\u25aa The absence of a deliberate strategy to attract investors, create clusters or encourage the development of local value chains using SEZs, and therefor the lack of appropriate link between the industrialization strategy of government and the Free Trade Zones.
\nProject Mine therefore seeks to achieve the following specific objectives:
\n\u25aa Support structural transformation of the Nigerian economy by increasing the manufacturing sector\u2019s contribution to GDP to 20% by 2029;
\n\u25aa Contribute to sustainable inclusive growth by creating 1.5 million new direct manufacturing jobs in the initial phase of Project MINE;
\n\u25aa Increase and diversify foreign exchange earnings to at least US$30bn annually by 2029, by increasing manufacturing sector exports;
\n\u25aa Create local models of global best practice in the provision of world class infrastructure at competitive costs connecting SEZs to international and regional markets with transport links, uninterrupted power, ICT, water, sewage and other services to ensure smooth and efficient operation of SEZ businesses;
\n\u25aa Promote the \u201ccluster\u201d effect to be gained by locating similar export-oriented manufacturing businesses within the same locality;
\n\u25aa Attract world class investors with strong positions in global supply chains and investors with potential to increase the scale of operations rapidly to set up operations in SEZs; and
\n\u25aaCreate an enabling environment for SEZ businesses by instituting best in class legal and regulatory frameworks, using technology and streamlined processes to facilitate movement of people, goods and capital and easy access to government services, approvals and permits.
\nIn June, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved NSEZCO, with the endorsement of the Economic Management Team, as the holding entity for FGN investments and proprietary interests in existing and future SEZs.\u00a0 The FEC approval also provides that all current and future capital appropriations for Project MINE should be transferred to NSEZCO\u2019s account, as soon as opening formalities are completed.
\nWith the formalities completed, NSEZCO became the platform through which Federal Government\u2019s capital budget appropriations for SEZs are converted into long term value creating investments.
\nNSEZCO is a public private partnership (PPP) company to operate world-class standards of governance and management, to facilitate mobilization of capital and other resources from PPP partners, in order to overcome budgetary constraints to the provision of critical infrastructure for SEZs.
\nBy aggregating and harnessing FG\u2019s investment in a strong corporate special purpose vehicle, NSEZCO will facilitate the mobilization of additional capital from development finance institutions (DFIs) and private investors. Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) is the shareholder, holding the FG\u2019s interest of 25% in NSEZCO.\u00a0 The balance of 75% is currently held in trust on behalf of other prospective shareholders, pending completion of investors\u2019 diligence and documentation and approval procedures.
\nOn 8 February 2019, NSEZCO signed investment agreements with three Development Finance Institutions: Afreximbank, Bank of Industry, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Ministry of Finance Incorporated for their investment in NSEZCO at a ceremony presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
\nAfrica Finance Corporation and African Development Bank which are still in the preliminary stages of their internal approval processes were also in attendance as observers.
\nPresident Buhari said at the signing ceremony that: \u201cWhen 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.\u201d
\nAlready, NSEZCO is mobilizing capital from the Federal Government and the development finance institution shareholders, for the development of Special Economic Zones across Nigeria.
\n 
\nPilot projects in the first phase are Enyimba Economic City, Abia State, Lekki Model Industrial Park, Lagos State and Funtua Cotton Cluster, Katsina State.\u00a0 In addition, pre-development studies are on-going in Benue, Kwara and Sokoto States whilst studies will soon commence in Ebonyi, Edo and Gombe States amongst others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Release By Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) The Presidency notes reports in sections of the media about the status of Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited (NSEZCO), also known as Nigeria Special Economic Zones Company Limited. We wish to confirm that NZESCO was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle to deliver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5777,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-features","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}