Plans are underway by the federal government to begin the listing of Free Trades Zones and zones’ enterprises on the Nigeria Capital Market.
The managing director/CEO of NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, disclosed this Wednesday while speaking during a business interface meeting with the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alhaji Lamido Yuguda, at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Authority’s head of corporate communications, Dr. Martins Odeh.
According to Adesugba, the prosperity and wealth of the free trade zone would be effectively extended to the investing public through the stock market.
He said the law establishing NEPZA gave it substantial latitude to effect changes that ensured dimensional linkages between the free zone and the Nigerian public for mutual benefits.
“We are not in this alone; it is indeed a synergy between some key agencies of government with the Security and Exchange Commission driving the process in order to grant access to the free trade zone community to trade on the Nigeria Stock Market.
“The best governance structure and framework to drive this innovation is also being worked on. This initiative is a sign of greater things the Authority and the Commission can do together to position the country’s business environment and the stock market for global competitiveness.
“We are, therefore, about to unleash immeasurable wealth, technology and prosperity into the country’s stock market. It is our desire to convert the country’s business space into a free trade zone as obtained in Dubai. This is like a first step towards that direction,” he said.
On his part, Yuguda said that the Commission was interested in the governance structure of the free trade zones enterprises as that was fundamental to the declaration of profits and sharing of dividends.
He said, “On the whole, the commission welcomes this innovation and we must all work hard for it to come to fruition in the shortest possible time. Already, a six-week deadline has been agreed to submit the final draft of the framework and we must work within this period to deliver this big gift to Nigerians.”
