LAGOS State Government said yesterday that no fewer than 64 companies have indicated their intention to invest at least $25 billion (about N3.750 trillion) in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, who made the revelation at a press briefing in Lagos, said the companies include MasterCard, Guinness and a host of other companies, adding that they took interest in Lagos as a result of the series of Ehingbetti Economic Summits held to draw attention of the world to the huge economic potential in the state.
He said the 2010 edition was specifically targeted at marketing Lagos State as an enduring brand that offers would-be investors a safe haven.
He said: “Not only is the return on their investment guaranteed, but also a ready market is provided for their products with its estimated over 18 million residents.
“It featured talks and discussions on sectoral groups and exhibition of various projects being promoted by the state government.”
Akabueze stated that the focus was largely on infrastructure, institutions and operations across the six sectors; namely, power, water and sanitation, real estate, tourism, recreation and sports, agriculture and agro-allied industries as well as transportation.

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5485:-64-firms-to-invest-over-25b-in-lekki-free-trade-zone-&catid=37:general-news&Itemid=607

If true, wow. Kudos to Fashola, the ACN, and Lagos State!

I'd like to see more specific details though. . . article is too fluffy.

I will continue to repeat it that administrators of Nigerian States must shun indolence, complacency and a reliance on allocation from the centre that , in reality, should be viewed as  "supplementary" , at best,  in comparison to what many States can generate with proactive effort.

State Governors should imagine they are running a Nation within a nation. With that in mind , they can begin focusing entirely on aggressively attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) and innovatively raising IGR (Internally generated revenue) through deliberate focus on divergent economic activities that may have being ignored before because everyone wanted to pander to indolence with a dependence on National earnings from oil.

ekt_bear:

LAGOS State Government said yesterday that no fewer than 64 companies have indicated their intention to invest at least $25 billion (about N3.750 trillion) in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, who made the revelation at a press briefing in Lagos, said the companies include MasterCard, Guinness and a host of other companies, adding that they took interest in Lagos as a result of the series of Ehingbetti Economic Summits held to draw attention of the world to the huge economic potential in the state.
He said the 2010 edition was specifically targeted at marketing Lagos State as an enduring brand that offers would-be investors a safe haven.
He said: “Not only is the return on their investment guaranteed, but also a ready market is provided for their products with its estimated over 18 million residents.
“It featured talks and discussions on sectoral groups and exhibition of various projects being promoted by the state government.”
Akabueze stated that the focus was largely on infrastructure, institutions and operations across the six sectors; namely, power, water and sanitation, real estate, tourism, recreation and sports, agriculture and agro-allied industries as well as transportation.

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5485:-64-firms-to-invest-over-25b-in-lekki-free-trade-zone-&catid=37:general-news&Itemid=607

Upward SW !!!!

Bad belle people go soon full this thread now.

am not even from Lagos( born in it though)

but i support it 100%

What You Need To Know About Ehingbeti


Farayiola Johnson
Ehingbeti 2010

Ehingbeti known to be a place for refuse disposal was cleared by the end of1850, and with the construction of the Broad road it was transformed to what we call Marina and Broad Streets. The Marina became a place fronting the lagoon where merchants built their stores and luxurious dwellings with important timber, marble and prefabricated buildings. The Marina had access to the priers and so to business, it faced outward from the center of native residences, and was occupied by the Europeans. In short, it became one of the best areas in the colonial era.

Today it still is, there is an adage Lagosians say that, “ti oju k’o ba ti Ehin’gbeti, oju k’o ni ti Eko” meaning “As long as the Marina is not humbled then Lagos would not be too”. This was why the Lagos Sate government initiated the Lagos State Economic Summit tagged Ehingbeti.

The 1st Summit, Ehingbeti 2000 looked into the dysfunction economic system arising from public sector dominance of the Nigerian economy, created innumerable challenges which manifested as decayed infrastructure, ineffective economic structures, high unemployment rate and rural-urban drift. This situation created a need for role and resource re-alignment between the private and public sectors.
The Second Lagos State Economic Summit (Ehingbeti 2001) was dedicated to core issues in urban governance and the setting up a partnership for managing the most urbanized city in Nigeria.
Ehingbeti 2002 (the 3rd Summit) continued the focus on the core issues in urban governance and the strengthen of partnership for managing Lagos.

The 4th Lagos Economic Summit was dedicated to engaging with stakeholders on strategies to transform the state especially as a curative means than as a diagnostic one.

The summit has the following objectives
• Create an enduring platform for partnership with global accepted standard of participatory planning.
• Harness the rich reservoir of ideas and capacities towards economic growth and development in Lagos State.
• Generate broad base support for policy enunciation and implementation.
• Provide an advisory policy framework on critical issues in the state’s march towards development.
• Create an arena to showcase business opportunities in Lagos.

The Ehingbeti 2010 which is the 5th Lagos Economic Summit with the theme; Lagos- Investment Opportunities In Africa’s Emerging Model City, took place between 20th – 22nd of April 2010, hundreds of business moguls, foreign and local investors, managing directors and chief executive officers of companies, among others, gathered at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, to rub minds on how to tap into the numerous investment opportunities offered by the Lagos mega city.

Investors were treated to the various investment opportunities that abound in Lagos in areas such as Business Environment and Competitiveness; Power, Water and Sanitation, and Real Estate all in Infrastructure, Institutions and Operations respectively; Tourism, Recreation and Sports; Manufacturing, Agriculture and Agro-Allied Industries and Transportation.

At the opening ceremony of the event packaged by the Lagos Economic Summit Group (LESG), it’s Chairman and Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, highlighted the recommendations of the 2008 summit and the gains derived from it, saying that most of the recommendations were implemented by the state government.

The Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Sosan, read Governor Babatunde Fashola’s speech as he could not make it to the opening of the summit because he was held up in London as a result of the volcanic ash which erupted in Iceland and spread through Europe, grounding flights and disrupting commercial activities in that part of the world.
According to Fashola, the state has a huge basket of projects for investors “who are ready to put their money to work in pursuit of worthwhile returns.”

He said the projects they could invest in lied in the areas of toll roads, ferry services and water transportation, public water supply, sewage and power supply, among others, assuring them that the state government officials would be available in the various sessions and at the exhibition stands to provide facts and figures relating to estimated projects costs, the quantum of local market demand for the service as well as the strengths and challenges of each sector.
Fashola said since the last summit in 2008, the state government had worked very hard to implement the 37 resolutions and action points, adding that he was pleased to see the report that the state has implemented 34 resolutions.

“In the last two years since the last summit, we have invested wisely as a government in infrastructure, spending close to 60 per cent of our annual budgets on roads, schools, health care, security, jetties, markets, court rooms, the environment and water supply, to mention a few. The state has addressed poverty by creating jobs, made the state safer by bringing down violent crimes by as much as 79 per cent, mitigated desperate conditions in the state by improving traffic efficiency and making it cleaner and has boosted the confidence of investors in the state,” he stressed.

In the lead paper entitled Making Lagos A World Class Economic Hub, Professor Paul Collier of the Department of Economics in Oxford University, United Kingdom declared that “by his policy of institutionalization and systematization of governance, Governor Fashola has demonstrated great leadership,” adding that by strengthening the institutions of governance, the governor was laying a solid foundation for leadership of the future.



In all, Ehingbeti 2010 was a success as the summit had been able draw global attention to investment opportunities that abound in Lagos as Africa’s emerging model mega city and that in the nearest future, it could be the Dubai of Africa.

This is good news and the 4th mainland bridge linking ikorodu to Lekki will be the only thing to enable the success of this free trade zone. I have been to the zone and seen it myself. however, all the workers that is expected to work at that zone have to be able to get there. Lekki Epe expressway is too small to accommodate the new volume of traffic that the zone will generate.

The coastal road has to be constructed or completed as well as the 4th mainland bridge. Big jetties at ikorodu will also be a good avenue for more ferries to commute passengers from ikorodu to Lekki. We should never forget that a port is also being  built in the area.

,

,

Good news for Lagos.

More informative article here: http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/05/05/lagos-attracts-n3-8tr-for-trade-zone/

Some GDP estimates in that article as well. Quite different from the #s that The Economist reported, though.

Lagos is good for business. There is no denying that.

I wont let tribalism get in the way of business. 

Whatever happens in 2015, Fashola WILL be in politics

Other SW Gov, learn his secrets.

Kai! More Ajokutamamumi trooping in with their Ghana must go o,

^-- Hehe.

So long as Fashola taxes them heavily, no wahala.

^^^yes, but these days I hardly go to Isale Eko because their shops are blocking the entrance to my compound o.

Thanks Ben Akabueze, smart Ibo man showing lazy, clueless yorubas the way forward.

Igbo Kwenu

ekt_bear:

^-- Hehe.

So long as Fashola taxes them heavily, no wahala.

Its a Free Trade Zone ! Helloooo are u asleep or taking a nap?. FTZ Means Export Driven Businesses

Freezone = Little or no tax, little or no regulation, Little or no Tariff & Excise, Duties etc, Little or no Adequate Salary on par with ILO standards for workers, little or no pension, health & benefit package
for workers in FTZ.

BUT FOR THE MNCs and foreign companies coming all, it means "SUPA DUPA PROFITS !!!

^-- Fine, we get it, you hate the MNCs and the western world. . . you've yammered on about this for a long time now already.

And regarding taxation, depends on the exact details and implementation.

ekt_bear:

^-- Fine, we get it, you hate the MNCs and the western world. . . you've yammered on about this for a long time now already.

And regarding taxation, depends on the exact details and implementation.

Dude dont be a muppet!!! you guys are too shallow to have a conversation/discussing with.

I just told you want a FTZ is, dont try and get offended by me because your Politicians
dont know how to "Negotiate" and "Plan" long term investments that would be beneficial to the
state/nation instead of these "Pre-Packaged" deals from the "International Business Shark Clubs"
that exist in this world.

Stop being shallow dude you need to grow up in your "Thought-life" and how the world is structured.

People will always push you around and abuse you untill you push back with understanding
That goes for Political-Economic decisions too.

ekt_bear:

^-- Fine, we get it, you hate the MNCs and the western world. . . you've yammered on about this for a long time now already.

And regarding taxation, depends on the exact details and implementation.

Dude look at the bold part of your statement, thats the main reason why its called a free trade zone

Free Trade means Little or No Tax, Tarriff, Customs Barriers,

And allow it (Just stop trying to impress) with the grammar "depends on the exact details and implementation"

Yeah Right!!!

Are you high as a kite? What is wrong with you? Your arrogance pisses me the hell off.

Yes, we KNOW WHAT A FREE TRADE ZONE IS.

But that doesn't mean Nigerian consumers (specifically, the ajokutamamumi being referred to here) will be able to enter the FTZ and bring anything they like into Nigeria, duty-free.

For all we know, the duty-free only applies to goods EXPORTED from Lekki to outside of the country! Not goods brought from the FTZ to Nigeria.

And of course it depends on the "exact details and implementation". . . I assume that they'd have different policies for different classes of goods.

Good one from my state.

Eko o ni baje.

i cannot wait till the day ACN govs start work in ogun n oyo those two states have sooooo much potential!

Hope the Governor elects in the other SW states can keep up

zstranger:

Thanks Ben Akabueze, smart Ibo man showing lazy, clueless yorubas the way forward.

Igbo Kwenu

If Ibos are that smart why don't they go and fix their own state rather than leech on Lagos, which is owned by Yoruba people and governed by a smart Yoruba man.

The first thing for Ibos to do is to find an intelligent Ibo man to run your state, not a "business" man to do so. Because we all know that rather than calling a putative business man who, for example, sells fake goods or pirated CDS a con man, most Ibos would call him a smart business man. I am just saying. It is called okrika mentality.

Preferential Policies

1. Complete tax holiday from all Federal, State and Local Governments rates, taxes, Custom Duties and Levies;

2. One-stop approval for all permits, Operating License and Incorporation Papers;

3. Duty-Free and Tax-Free importation of raw materials and components for goods destined for re-export;

4. Permission to sell 100% of manufactured assembled of imported goods into the domestic Nigeria market. When selling into the domestic market, the amount of import duty on goods manufactured in the Free Trade Zone is calculated only on the basis of the value of the raw materials or components used in assembly, not on the finished products;

5. 100% foreign ownership of investments;

6. 100% repatriation of capital, profits and dividends to the country of origin;

7. Waiver of all import and export License;

8. Waiver on all expatriate quotas for companies operating in the zones;

9. Prohibition of strikes and lockouts for the first 10 years of operation of a free zone.

http://www.lfzdc.com/E-jieshao.asp?id=1

ADint:

4. Permission to sell 100% of manufactured assembled of imported goods into the domestic Nigeria market. When selling into the domestic market, the amount of import duty on goods manufactured in the Free Trade Zone is calculated only on the basis of the value of the raw materials or components used in assembly, not on the finished products;

Thanks. So exporting from Lekki into Nigeria, you'll pay duties. Just less.

Makes sense that they'd not allow importing from Lekki into Nigeria for free.

ekt_bear:



Are you high as a kite? What is wrong with you? Your arrogance pisses me the hell off.

Yes, we KNOW WHAT A FREE TRADE ZONE IS.

But that doesn't mean Nigerian consumers (specifically, the ajokutamamumi being referred to here) will be able to enter the FTZ and bring anything they like into Nigeria, duty-free.

For all we know, the duty-free only applies to goods EXPORTED from Lekki to outside of the country! Not goods brought from the FTZ to Nigeria.

And of course it depends on the "exact details and implementation". . . I assume that they'd have different policies for different classes of goods.

You just cant accept facts when you see it,

I guess "ADint" post has just magnified what i have just pointed out.

"Arrogance"? please you need to stop get of your a.s.s and wake up!

You better get one thing into your head ekt_bear.

The Free Trade Zone is not for the Major Benefit on Nigerian Nationals.

Welcome to the Philipines!!!

^-- We will have to agree to disagree.

I welcome this FTZ with open arms.

ekt_bear:

Thanks. So exporting from Lekki into Nigeria, you'll pay duties. Just less.

Makes sense that they'd not allow importing from Lekki into Nigeria for free.

ROFLMAO!  The bolded must me wonder what planet guys like you live on,

Is Lekki not in Nigeria, ? You need to research FTZ and see their effects in countries before
you type your "dis-organised system of thoughts".

ekt_bear:

^-- We will have to agree to disagree.

I welcome this FTZ with open arms.

Well you have no Choice, you would welcome anything as you just dont know
a "Corporate Con" from a "Beneficial Investment!".