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By Anthony Maliki
Nigerians and elected officials should protect foreign direct investments in the Special Economic Zones by fully understanding the laws setting up the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority(NEPZA) and Oil and Gas Free Zone (OGFZA) , respectively, the Nigeria Economic Zone Association has declared.
Reacting to incessant invitation of its members who are private zones and enterprises operating in the Special Economic Zones by some committees of the National Assembly, the Association, while recognising the oversight functions of the lawmakers cautioned against breaching existing laws capable of eroding gains already recorded in attracting foreign direct investment into the country.
In a statement by the Association’s Executive Secretary, ‘Toyin Elegbede, the attention of the National Assembly, through the Association’s letter to the Hon. Speaker, House of Representatives of 5th April, 2022, was called to the concept of free zones under the regulation of both the NEPZA and OGFZA, explaining that the regulators are accountable to the National Assembly while companies operating in the zones are accountable to the regulator.
“As much as no entity is above the law, the practice and the law is that companies operating in the special economic zones exist under special arrangement with their activities regulated by the regulator . It is not the intention of the law for lawmakers, in breach of the law, to bypass the regulator to summon companies in the zones.
“Such conduct will amount to a violation of the terms under which the foreign investors entered and invested several billions of US dollars in the Nigerian economy. The practice, according to the law and according to international best practice, is for the lawmakers to interface with the regulators to address any issue within the Special Economic Zones”, Elegbede stated.
While acknowledging the powers of the National Assembly to investigate and expose corruption, the Executive Secretary stated that its members regularly file annual audited reports with NEPZA and OGFZA, affirming that queries on such reports are raised if any and addressed by the regulators and answered by companies operating in the zones.
According to him, there is a difference between foreign investment within the economic zones and outside the zones, which is termed ‘custom territory’, adding that investors within the zones operate under a special law that conferred certain privileges while the host country enjoy benefits of employment creation, industrialisation, backward integration, among others.
“Our members are law abiding entities operating within the laws and regulations of the land. The benefits to the national economy are unquantifiable. We are all happy about the developments going on at Dangote Refinery, Lekki deep sea port, Eko Atlantic, among others. We should protect investors so that we can encourage new ones to invest in the country. We particularly appeal to the relevant committees of the National Assembly to engage the regulators if they have issues with operations within the Special Economic Zones. That is what the law says”, Elegbede noted.
