The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, has described the N1.5 billion investment brought into the Kano Free Trade Zone by Sunbelt Free Zone Enterprise as an offshoot of sustained intervention by the federal government to maintain the zone as an investors’ attractive anchorage.
A statement by Head, Corporate Communications Martins Odeh on Friday, said Adesugba made the remark when he played host to the Executive Director and one of the promoters of the enterprise, Alhaji Murtala Jega on Thursday in Abuja.
Adesugba said NEPZA and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had so far collaborated in executing President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on using the scheme to generate employment for the country’s teeming youth population.
According to him, when operational, Sunbelt has the capacity of engaging 3000 direct and indirect labour.
“We are happy with this feat. This is the kind of investment the federal government is expecting us to sustain.
“It is the Authority’s desire at this stage to position Nigeria for competitiveness in order to benefit maximally from the new Africa free trade regime made possible by the African Continental Free Trade Zone Agreement (ACFTA).
“It is our fervent prayer to diligently work within the purview of the mandate of actualizing the country’s industrialization. In doing this, we shall not disappoint the president and the nation,” Adesugba said.
On the N1.4 billion approval given by the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday for the upgrade of electricity facilities at the Calabar Free Trade Zone, Adesugba said the development was a genuine disposition of president Buhari’s commitment to use the zone scheme as one of the key drivers of the nation’s economy.
