President Muhammadu Buhari says
the implementation of the Federal Government’s Made in Nigeria for Exports
(MINE) will generate 30 billion dollars and create 1.5million jobs by 2025.
MINE is a presidential special
priority intervention programme implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Trade
and Investment, but under Buhari’s direct supervision.
The president stated this at the
signing of agreement between Nigeria Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Investment
Company and Strategic Investment Partners at the State House, Abuja on Friday.
According to him, MINE is using
Special Economic Zones to achieve the objectives of boosting the share of
manufacturing in Gross Domestic Product to 20 per cent.
“In order to achieve these
ambitious objectives, we are implementing a comprehensive plan including but
not limited to the following:
“We have set up the Nigeria SEZ
Investment Company Limited as a vehicle for participating in Public Private
Partnerships involving Federal and State governments and local and foreign
private investors.
“This company will develop new
Special Economic Zones all over the country, offering advanced infrastructure
and facilities at competitive costs,’’ he said.
The president revealed that the
projects in the pilot phase included Enyimba Economic City, Funtua Cotton
Cluster and Lekki Model Industrial Park.
He announced that experienced SEZ
developers and operators were needed to partner with the government to upgrade
its Free Trade Zones in Calabar and Kano, and to offer first-class standards of
infrastructure and facilities.
He said: “Whilst we await the completion
of the process of bringing in these investors, the Federal Executive Council
has approved the award of contracts in excess of N19.45 billion for the needed
investment in Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones and work is currently ongoing.
“This is the highest amount of
capital investment ever in the history of these zones.’’
The President said the federal
government had allocated funds to upgrade the capabilities of management and
the systems in the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, to strengthen it
as a regulator of the SEZ.
He added that government was also
allocating substantial resources to the provision of “outside the fence”
infrastructure to ensure that SEZ are connected to global, regional and
domestic markets.
“We are reviewing our incentive
framework to ensure competitiveness relative to the other countries with whom
we are in the race to attract export oriented global manufacturing investment.
“We will extend the early
successes we have achieved in Ease of Doing Business to the areas critical to
globally competitive export-oriented manufacturing operations,’’ he said.
The president thanked the
investment partners including the Africa Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM);
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); Bank of Industry (BOI); Nigerian Sovereign
Investment Authority (NSIA) and the African Development Bank (AFDB) for their
support for the initiative.
Earlier in his remarks, the
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, explained
that the agreement would actualise the nation’s industrialisation agenda and
provision of infrastructural facilities.
He thanked the president for
approving resources to attract world class advisers for the implementation of
the initiative.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that those who signed the agreement included President Afreximbank, Dr
Benedict Oramah; the Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr Olukayode Pitan
and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, Mr
Uche Orji.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Nigeria has lost more than 3mll jobs in your reign,you can't guarantee another this time,calling you handicap is not an understatement,maybe its still PDP that causes your non performance
ReplyDelete