Free zone monopoly: LADOL makes case for level playing environment

While receiving the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Services, NCS, retired Col. Hameed Ali, who recently visited the Snake Island Integrated Free Zone (SIIFZ) in April, the company’s chairman Anwar Jarmakani, in his remarks, decried monopolistic practices in Nigeria’s oil & gas logistics and supply service, noting that it costs the government revenue losses in excess of $1.5billion annually.

Jarmakani, who noted that the monopoly had forced the logistics, oil & gas industry and the nation into capitulation, called on the Federal Government to arrest the trend, adding that Nigeria has become the most expensive in the world because of its entrenched monopoly.

“They have driven away investments from Nigeria and have seriously damaged the International reputation of Nigeria,” he said.

The issue of monopoly, which gives undue advantage to a particular company in the sector, has been on the front burner of discourse at the Free Zone fora. Other contentious concerns include, legislative provisions pertaining to taxes, levies, duties and foreign exchange, which border on the viability of the free zones.

But the end seems to be in sight, as the Senate has reiterated its commitment to remove any form of monopoly that can impede the development of private and public Free Zones in Nigeria.

Speaking after inspecting facilities at the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), members of the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, led by its chairperson, Fatimat Raji-Rasaki, said the fact-finding tour would enable the Senate gather needful information to aid its review of existing laws.

Raji-Rasaki, who was accompanied by Senators Effiong Nelson and Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, assured the Senate is committed to ensure it created a conducive environment that would move the economy of the nation forward, by strengthening the laws that govern operation of Free Zones for better out put.

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