One year after, FAAN suspends fresh licences for free trade zones
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has suspended the issuance of licenses to intending applicants at the airport free trade zones.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has suspended the issuance of licenses to intending applicants at the airport free trade zones.
Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu disclosed this as stakeholders in the free trade zone decried inconsistent government policies and multiple regulations as some of the challenges facing the smooth operation of free trade zones.
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Yadudu said the suspension would be in place until the issues of regulatory overlap between it and the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) are resolved.
Daily Trust reports that the federal government had designated four international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt as special economic zones (SEZ).
Our correspondent reports that a SEZ is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country, and are usually located within a country’s national borders or airports, which operate as investment or manufacturing hubs with tax waivers and other incentives provided.
But at a special session tagged, “Special economic zones at the airports and trade facilitation: Growing revenue and the national GDP” at the ongoing FAAN’s National Aviation Conference in Abuja, participants stressed the need for government agencies to harmonise their activities for the objectives of the SEZ to be achieved.
They specifically lamented that policy summersault has virtually killed Tinapa Resort in Cross River State, which is a special economic zone.
General Manager, Vicven Integrated Services, Mr Obinna Emeazo in his presentation decried the massive rots in Tinapa, which he noted was a result of government’s policy somersaults and lack of infrastructure at the resort.
Emeazo further decried multiple regulations between FAAN and NEPZA as one of the major factors slowing down the growth of free trade zones in the country, stressing that both agencies had to harmonise their policies for the progress of the country.
But the FAAN MD who announced the suspension of issuance of new licenses to intending operators in the airport free trade zone areas disclosed that at the Lagos Airport alone, there are presently two free trade zone operators, while additional two companies have applied.
He explained that as it stands today, all the five international airports in the country have been designated as free trade zones and warned that if not well-regulated, it may be a big challenge for the country in the future.