The existing Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones have attracted over 150 companies into the country and N900bn ($6bn) worth of investments, the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone Authority has said.
The Managing Director, OGFTZA, Onne, Mr. Victor Alabo, who spoke on behalf of the government during the 4th annual Free Trade Zone conference in Lagos on Tuesday, said the government agency had also created over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians.
Alabo, who was represented by the Head of Department, Marketing, OGFTZA, Mr. Adamu Mamman-Kontagora, said investment inflow into the free zones, which are under the control and supervision of the authority, represented about 60 per cent of total investments into the country within the last nine years.
According to him, The Financial Times of London magazine on FDI regards the Onne OGFZ as one of the most successful in Africa.
Alabo said, “The OGFZ at Onne has attracted all major oil companies in the area, which are now using the free zone as a hub for their activities, covering the whole Gulf of Guinea up to Angola and Southern Africa.
“There has been transfer of technology to Nigerians through manpower training, particularly due to the specialised nature of their operations. For example, Tenaris, which is the largest pipe producing company in the world, has trained over 70 Nigerians overseas on pipe technology and many more companies do similar things.
“Hamilton Technology works out regular courses/training to members of staff for career opportunity and productivity by sending Nigerians to Aberdeen and Malaysia for drilling fluids engineering courses, and it is a continuous process.”
He said the free zone had increased economic activities at the Onne area, thereby making the port the second busiest in Nigeria after Apapa.
With the free zone at Onne, Alabo explained that there had been an increase in government revenue earning, particularly for the Customs, Nigeria Port Authority and Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Speaking in the same vein, the Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. David Ige, said the corporation was set to build on the achievements of the free trade zone with the establishment of the Ogidigben gas city.
Ige, who was represented by the General Manager, Pipelines, NNPC, Mr. Sam Ndukwe, said the gas infrastructure development programme would attract an investment of over N2.4tn ($16bn) within the next four years; adding that the project was anchored on the three-point strategic focus of the Gas Master Plan.
He stated that the GMP would deliver gas to power for at least threefold increase in generation capacity by 2015; achieve reasonable level of gas-based industrialisation by positioning Nigeria as the undisputed regional hub for gas-based industries such as fertiliser, petrochemical and methanol plants by 2014; and achieve high value export via Liquefied Natural Gas and regional export drives
Ige said the ongoing work to consolidate the agenda had thrown up investment opportunities in the gas sector to the tune of $16bn.
“Opportunities for investments exist in the areas of financial services, gas transmission pipelines, pipe milling and fabrication yards, upstream gas development, LNG and LPG plants and gas processing facility/gas-based manufacturing industries,” he said.
On the proposed Ogidigben gas-based industrial park, the NNPC GED said investment opportunities were available in the areas of Free Trade Zone infrastructure, port infrastructure and real estate development.