The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) revealed that the country’s free trade zones (FTZs) scheme generated a total of ₦35.1 billion in customs duty for the government in 2021.
Adesoji Adesugba, the managing director of NEPZA, stated on Sunday that ₦408.3 million was also remitted as Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) taxes in the same year.
According to Adesugba, PAYE tax is one of the most important types of taxes in Nigeria that individuals pay to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in their respective states.
According to him, Section 19 of the NEPZA Act requires FTZ enterprises to file statistics and data returns.
Furthermore, section 8 mandates that enterprises operating in zones be exempt from federal, state, and local government taxes, according to the NEPZA CEO.
When these businesses expand into customs territories, they are required to pay all deferred taxes and duties, according to Adesugba.
Speaking further about the FTZs’ success, he stated that the scheme created 19,125 jobs in 2021, while 3,000 job skills were transferred to Nigerians in the same year.
He stated that the federal government had approved the establishment of NEPZA’s special economic zones (SEZ) security.
According to Adesugba, the reason for developing a viable revenue option is to reduce reliance on the downstream sector, and the FTZ scheme was implemented through the NEPZA with Act 63 of the parliament in 1992 to regulate and manage it.
“I can confidently say that the authority has done well in the actualisation of its mandate,” he said.
“We have experienced a turn around in the last seven years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as he continues to show commitment and passion through the federal government’s unflinching support for the success of the scheme.
“For instance, in 2017, the present administration buttressed the role of special economic zones in Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
“The SEZ model was used to accelerate the implementation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).”
Adesugba explained that the NIRP is a four-year road map on industrialization to create jobs and promote exports, which in turn would facilitate economic growth.
“The successes and prospects of the scheme have been, in the last few years, made manifest as a result of the entrants of private investors,” he said.
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