FG Seeks Partnership with A’Ibom Govt to Establish Oil and Gas Free Zone

Okon Bassey in Uyo
The federal government has identified three locations in Akwa Ibom State, namely Ibaka, Ibeno and Ikot Abasi, for the establishment of oil and gas free zone in the state.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Umana Umana, dropped the hint yesterday during an official visit to the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, at Government House in Uyo.

Accordingly, he said the federal government was ready to go into partnership with state government towards the realisation of the oil and gas free zone in the state considering numerous economic benefits of the free zones concept.

The OGFZA, Umana said, would use its expertise to establish a competitive oil and gas free zone with best global practices, obtain all necessary permit, licences, consents and approvals for the establishment of the free zone; attract potential investors to the free zone, regulate, licence investors and manage the free zone as well as advise and facilitate compliance with all necessary requirements for the establishment of the zones.

The state government, on its part, is expected to provide land for the project, keep the project site free from all aliens, encumbrances and adverse possession as well as provide offsite infrastructure such as roads, electricity, gas pipeline, telecommunications, crude feedstock and also make financial and other contributions for the successful execution of the project.

The chief executive cfficer of OGFZA explained that the establishment of the zone in the state would attract investments, create jobs and fast-track economic development.
As at 2015, Umana hinted that the investment inflow into the free zones represented about 65.5 percent of total investment into Nigeria within the last 10 years, a feat which made the Financial Times of London to rate Nigeria’s oil and gas free zone at Onne, with regards to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as the most successful in Africa.

Tracing the story of oil and gas free zone, Umana maintained that the first oil and gas export free zone to be established in the country was the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone in Rivers State which was subsequently followed with the establishment of other oil and gas free zones in Warri and Lagos as public-private partnerships (PPP) between the Federal Government of Nigeria and private sector operators.

“The history of the free zones is a record of collaboration between the federal government and other investors such as states and private sector operators in the development of the logistic support base for the oil and gas industry,” Umana added

He posited that the benefits of the oil and gas free zones have helped to deepen the economy of Nigeria and placed it on the map as a leading player in the oil and gas economy of Sub-Saharan Africa, saying OGFZs have attracted all major oil companies which are now using the free zones as a hub for their business transactions covering the entire Gulf of Guinea up to Angola and South Africa.