Nigeria generated N35.1 billion via foreign investment - NEPZA

The Managing Director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Adesoji Adesugba, announced that the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) Scheme generated N35.1 billion in Customs Duty for the government in 2021. Additionally, the scheme remitted N408.3 million as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes during the same period. Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Adesugba stated that NEPZA ensured the efficient generation of customs duty and tax administration for zones operation. The PAYE tax is a crucial type of tax paid by individuals to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) within their respective state of residence.

Adesugba also noted that the scheme created 19,125 job opportunities in 2021, with 3,000 job skills transferred to Nigerians. According to Section 19 of the NEPZA Act, FTZs enterprises are mandated to file returns for statistics and data, while Section 8 stipulates that enterprises operating in zones should be exempted from federal, state, and local government taxes. However, they are obligated to pay all deferred taxes and duties when they extend their businesses to the customs territories.

Adesugba explained that the federal government approved the establishment of the Special Economic Zones Security (SEZSEC), operated by NEPZA, to create a viable revenue option and reduce over-dependency on the downstream sector. The Nigerian government adopted the FTZ scheme and created NEPZA with Act 63 of the parliament in 1992 to regulate and manage it. The SEZ model was used to accelerate the implementation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), a four–year road map on industrialization to create jobs, promote exports, and facilitate economic growth. Adesugba expressed confidence in NEPZA's mandate's actualization and praised President Muhammadu Buhari's administration for its unflinching support for the scheme's success. The scheme's successes and prospects have become evident in the past few years due to the entry of private investors, he added.