The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has promised to help the Borno State Government bring the Banki Free Trade Zone back to life.
According to Martins Odeh, Ph.D., the Head of Corporate Communications at NEPZA, the comments were made during a visit to Abuja by the state governor, Prof. Babagana Diri, and Dr. Olufemi Ogunyemi, the Managing Director of NEPZA.
Dr. Olufemi Ogunyemi, MD/CEO of NEPZA, appears on the left with H.E. Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno State. The governor visited NEPZA Headquarters in Abuja yesterday.
The release said that Dr. Ogunyemi, who is also the CEO of NEPZA, stressed the need to quickly rebuild the zone because it is an important economic link between Nigeria and the rest of the Maghreb area.
There haven’t been many activities at the Banki Border Free Trade Zone because of bad weather, such flooding. Also, limited resources and security problems make things very hard.
Dr. Ogunyemi said, “We agreed to use our skills in attracting foreign direct investment and giving technical support to change this business ecosystem, which has a lot of potential to help the North Eastern region of our country become more economically powerful.”
Governor Zulum said he was happy with how dedicated the Authority was to helping the state revitalize, extend, and improve the zone so that it could be more competitive on a worldwide scale.
“The state is ready to make a big investment in the zone and build the physical infrastructure we need to bring prosperity closer to our citizens.”
The governor said, “I would like to thank His Excellency, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, for supporting the free trade zone initiative. It is a proven way to boost industrialization, so let’s take advantage of this chance.”
Sen. Tijjani Yahaya Kaura MFR, Chairman of the NEPZA Board, said that the new Board is dedicated to making sure that the Authority keeps doing its job of boosting non-oil export growth through the free trade zone project.
This was said by Kaura, a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, at the board’s first meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
Kaura remarked, “All the board members are happy with their appointments, and we should thank the president for his leadership in helping us reach our goal of becoming an export-driven country.”
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