Ken Ukaoha, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), has counselled the Federal Government (FG) on how to make the free-trade zones in the country become more productive.
In a recently-held interview, where he made his advisory, Ukaoha advised the government to look beyond revenues from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and focus more on providing value that would attract investors and make them stay with their resources.
Offering more value to the delight of investors, according to Ukaoha, would make the free-trade zones become more productive and economy-viable.
“What I think is that the government should look at the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority and other export processing agencies, why were they created in the first place? Is it to boost local production for export?” he queried.
He continued: ‘Let’s underline that. The government, like in every other place in the world, is expected to provide all the facilities and infrastructure that will attract investors-investors that will produce and export.
“However, if you check some of the export processing zones, you will discover that some facilities are lacking. But the government is only focused on the kind of money it is making from there in terms of Customs revenue generation.
“So, I think the first thing is to look at the facilities there. Do they really attract investors? Secondly, another thing that should be considered is, are there modalities for measuring their impact?
“If there are criteria for measurement, how regular is that measurement? Who is doing the cost and benefit analysis? How much has been brought into the coffers of the government? You can juxtapose that with what the government has put in there? What kind of exports has been galvanised through them? What kind of jobs? What level of jobs has been created?
“These are things I feel that non-state actors and governments should begin to look at, and then begin to make use of the analysis or survey. This will now lead us to identify the impediments that are still remaining.”
