EU businesses explore new investments in Lagos Free Zone
Project Leader, Power & Gas, Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), Prem Krishna (left); Vice President, European Business Chamber Nigeria (EuroCham), Mary Aderinola Ojulari; Managing Director, Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), Dinesh Rathi; President, EuroCham, Adefolu Majekodunmi and Managing Director, BASF Operations LFTZ Enterprise, Taiwo Ilesanmi during the visit of EuroCham to Lagos Free Zone on Tuesday.
The President, European Business Chambers (EuroCham), Adefolu Majekodunmi, has stated that European businesses are exploring opportunities in a bid to expand their investment portfolio in the country.
Speaking during a visit to the Lagos Free Zone, Majekodunmi explained that the purpose of the visit was to explore the opportunities for European companies to simplify their investments and operations in Nigeria.
“My expectation is to see our organisations that visited today setting up their facilities within the Lagos Free Zone. We do know that many of them have already shown interest in doing this and I think the experience from today has solidified their decision and thought process. It has been a very worthwhile experience for EuroCham and its members,” he said.
In his remarks to the delegation, the Chief Executive Officer, Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), Dinesh Rathi, described the zone as the next frontier and the best investment destination not only in Nigeria but also in the entire West African sub-region.
Rathi disclosed that phase one of the Lagos Free Zone, which covers about 45 per cent of the 830 hectares area, will be completed in 2022. He declared that the completion of phase one of the zone would be marked by the completion of the Lekki Deep Sea Port, scheduled to commence its operations next year.
Responding to questions from members of Eurocham on the plan for digitisation in line with the current global realities, Rathi explained that the process flows within the zone are being set out as a modern smart city leveraging on the latest technologies.
“We would leverage technology not only as an enabler but also as a differentiator. Lagos Free Zone would be a full-fledged digitally-enabled zone. We are currently working with a leading telecom and network solutions provider to connect the entire zone with a high-speed fibre optic network,” he said.
Giving a testimonial on the competitive advantage of Lagos Free Zone, Mr Taiwo Ilesanmi (Managing Director, BASF Operations LFTZ Enterprise) revealed that their experience has been impressive in the last two years of the company’s operations in the zone.
“The Lagos Free Zone team have been very supportive, they extended their full assistance to guide us through the process of setting up our facility and they have also been constantly available to help us resolve any operational issues that arise, efficiently and amicably.” he said.
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