By Chimezie Godfrey
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has moved Nigeria’s Digital Free Zones initiative to the implementation stage, with the Federal Government targeting increased global investment, job creation and opportunities for Nigerian technology and service companies to operate internationally from the country.
The President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, saying the initiative was designed to make it easier for Nigerian businesses to raise global capital, employ Nigerians and build for international markets without relocating their companies and intellectual property abroad.
Onanuga said the initiative would also create opportunities for young Nigerians to work for global companies from within the country while expanding the domestic ecosystem of engineers, developers, designers, lawyers, accountants and other professionals supporting digital businesses.
“Nigeria has the talent, enterprise and ambition to build companies that can compete anywhere in the world. Our responsibility as a government is to ensure that Nigerians do not have to leave Nigeria or rely on other jurisdictions to realise that potential,” Tinubu said.
According to Onanuga, the President wants a greater share of the economic value generated by Nigerian talent to remain within the country through jobs, investment, professional services, intellectual property and the growth of Nigerian-owned businesses.
He said Tinubu had directed the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, in her capacity as Vice-Chairman and Implementation Coordinator of the Presidential Steering Committee on Digital Free Zones, to work with the Itana Innovation project and the committee to develop a roadmap for the full launch of the initiative within 180 days.
Onanuga explained that Tinubu established and chairs the Presidential Steering Committee as part of efforts to modernise Nigeria’s free zone framework, which was created more than three decades ago, for the demands of the digital economy.
“For too long, some of our most promising young entrepreneurs have felt compelled to establish their companies and intellectual property abroad to access global capital and markets. I do not accept that this must remain the case,” Tinubu said.
The President added: “I want the next generation of African technology, finance and service companies to be built, headquartered and scaled to the world from Nigerian soil.”
Onanuga said the initiative was already taking shape with Itana, described as Nigeria’s first Digital Free Zone, having secured a licence from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) to provide a platform for global and pan-African digital and service businesses to establish and operate from Nigeria.
He added that the Africa Finance Corporation was backing the $500 million Itana Innovation project at Alaro City, Lagos.
According to him, the project would combine an enabling policy environment with an innovation campus, access to capital and ecosystem services aimed at helping African startups build at scale and retain more of the value they create on the continent.
Tinubu, according to the statement, said the administration’s ambition extended beyond the development of technology parks to creating an environment where companies could be incorporated, financed and governed from Nigeria while serving markets across Africa and the world.
“We want African companies to be incorporated in Nigeria, financed here and governed from here, while serving markets across Africa and the world,” he said.
The President said the initiative would enable young Nigerians across the country to work for global companies without relocating abroad.
“I want a young Nigerian in Kano, Enugu, Warri, Minna, Maiduguri or Ibadan to be able to work for a global company without leaving home, and I want our founders to raise capital globally while their companies and intellectual property remain in Nigeria,” he said.
Tinubu added that the growth of such businesses in Nigeria would generate employment, expand demand for Nigerian professional services and help retain more economic value domestically.
Onanuga said the Presidential Steering Committee would continue its work across areas including regulation, taxation, banking, immigration, arbitration and the digitisation of government processes within Nigeria’s free zones.
The President also said the initiative would position Nigeria to benefit from the rapid expansion of Africa’s digital economy and the growth of digitally enabled trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Nigeria has the talent and the market to reshape Africa’s place in the global technology and digital economy value chain,” Tinubu said.
“This is what our Renewed Hope commitment to a digital economy looks like in practice, and this is how we transform reform into opportunities.
“We made a promise to Nigerians. We are keeping it,” he added.