The Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones (OGFTZs) have attracted investments above $ 15.9 billion since 2021 from new and existing investors, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sen. Tijjani Yahaya Kaura, has said.
Kaura, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, said OGFTZs’ achievements have contributed significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last two decades.
According to him, the Authority’s contribution in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was $ 21.6 billion between 2001 and 2021, while over 35,000 Nigerians have acquired technical skills within the 20 years.
In addition, the number of Nigerians who have secured various levels of direct employment is over 41,000 persons, as well as another 164,000 who are engaged indirectly within the same period.
On revenue generation to the government, Kaura said the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone Authority’s activities accounted for Customs duty of N119billion realised from exported goods from the free zones, as well as withholding tax of N10.4billion for transactions carried out between free zone enterprises and non-free zone licenses between 2018 and 2021.
He said Value Added Tax (VAT) raked in N9.5 billion for transactions carried out between free zone enterprises and non-free licenses.
Kaura added that the Authority had contributed to the reduction of government personnel and overhead costs by offering to become a partially self-funding agency since January 2021 thereby saving the government over N2.3 billion.
The MD said eight free zones established by OGFZA are all operational, one is under construction, while one is newly declared and undergoing a licensing process.
“The Authority scored 69 in achieving its expected employment generation targets. On skills transfer, OGFZA achieved 73 per cent of the national goal for free zones,” Kaura added.
