The Senate Committee on Trade and Investment has said it will facilitate the review of about 45 laws that impede foreign direct investment into Nigeria.
The laws are said to include that which allows for the discharge of all oil and gas cargoes only at designated terminals in Onne, Warri and Calabar ports.
A member of the committee, Senator Nelson Effiong, said this during a familiarisation tour of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base in Lagos on Tuesday.
He said, “We got a consultant to look at the issues that impede the FDIs and he came up with 45 of such laws. One of them is the law that encourages monopoly.
“We have to ensure that we repeal such law and others concerning waivers. We have to encourage laws that make free enterprise possible in Nigeria.”
The Nigerian Ports Authority had last year issued a directive that vessels coming to the country with oil and gas cargoes, excluding refined petroleum products, must proceed first to the appropriate NPA terminals being operated by private operators to be cleared by the Customs and other relevant authorities, terminal operators and shipping lines, among others.
It added that all oil and gas related cargoes must be handled only at the designated terminals at the Onne, Warri and Calabar ports.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Fatimat Rasaki, said the committee was at the facility to carry out its oversight functions.
She said, “We have been to Nigerdock facility at the Snake Island and now we are here. We also plan to see other free zones at Kano and Calabar at a later date.
“When we are through, we will be in a better position to review existing laws as they affect operations in the zones. We will know what value such zones are adding to the country.”
The Chairman, LADOL, Mr. Oladipo Jadesimi, called for support from the committee, noting that Nigeria needed foreign investment, which should be in conjunction with indigenous firms.
“LADOL came into the logistics industry to raise the bar in favour of indigenous companies. More players are considering going into this market. We have to ensure that there is a level playing field and absolute demolition of monopoly, because it costs Nigeria a lot,” he said.
The Managing Director of LADOL, Amy Jadesimi, said an estimated $4bn had been invested in the facility since 2010.
She said, “We will like the Senate to focus on laws, which make us competitive compared to our neighbours across the world; laws, which lower the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
“We need to limit bureaucracy and have Information Technology deployed in as many parastatals as possible. We need the laws around free zones to be strengthened so that international operators know that the benefits they will get here are the same as other free zones in the world.
“Recall that development began in China from free zones. If the free zones laws are sacrosanct, there will not be any change in government policy and you will see the floodgate of investments opened,” she said.
