UK–Nigeria Trade & Investment Partnership: NEPZA Positions for Strategic Gains

UK–Nigeria Trade & Investment Partnership: NEPZA Positions for Strategic Gains

By Martins Odeh, Ph.D.

The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has taken a strategic position in advancing Nigeria’s trade and investment agenda following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent visit to the United Kingdom.

Leveraging the high-level diplomatic engagement, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, alongside heads of agencies under the ministry—including NEPZA’s Managing Director, Dr. Olufemi Ogunyemi—promoted flexible trade and investment facilitation strategies aimed at strengthening bilateral economic ties.

The visit marked a significant shift in Nigeria’s trade diplomacy with the United Kingdom, ending over three decades of limited high-impact engagement and opening new pathways for mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

At the centre of these engagements was the inaugural ministerial meeting of the UK–Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP), co-hosted by the UK Minister for Trade, Sir Chris Bryant, and Dr. Oduwole. The meeting convened senior policymakers, technical experts, and private sector stakeholders to review progress since the partnership’s launch in February 2024.

Both countries reaffirmed the importance of ETIP as a key platform for deepening trade and investment relations, with a focus on delivering commercially meaningful outcomes that support sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven growth.

Discussions highlighted growing interest among UK and Nigerian businesses in expanding operations across critical sectors. Stakeholders also addressed existing barriers to investment, particularly regulatory challenges, and agreed on the need to enhance investor support systems, improve regulatory clarity, and strengthen investment facilitation frameworks.

The meeting further explored collaboration on Nigeria’s Investment Portal and the potential development of a bilateral Investment Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Emphasis was also placed on regulatory cooperation in the services sector, including audit regulatory equivalence and mutual recognition of statutory audit qualifications.

Additionally, both parties welcomed opportunities under the UK–Nigeria Growth Programme to support capacity building in innovation, digital regulation, intellectual property protection, and regulatory coherence—key drivers of competitiveness and export diversification.

Nigeria also presented updates on its new Intellectual Property Policy, outlining implementation strategies aimed at boosting investor confidence and protecting creative industry stakeholders.

For NEPZA, Dr. Ogunyemi’s participation provided a strategic opportunity to align the Authority’s operations with evolving UK and European trade facilitation policies. His earlier engagements with European Union missions in Abuja have already begun to stimulate renewed interest in Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones.

Speaking at a sideline event in Marlborough themed “Deepening Trade & Business Relationships towards a Mutually Prosperous Economy,” Dr. Ogunyemi reaffirmed NEPZA’s role as a key driver of Nigeria’s non-oil export growth.

He highlighted the current footprint of 63 Free Trade Zones hosting over 700 enterprises and invited UK investors to leverage the zones as testing grounds for production, assuring them of strong incentives, policy stability, and investment security.

Dr. Ogunyemi further noted that NEPZA is strengthening the ease of doing business through collaboration with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

He also called on Nigerians in the diaspora to take advantage of the Federal Government’s industrial policy by investing in Free Trade Zones, citing the scheme’s 100 percent profit repatriation policy as a major incentive.

“I have commenced targeted trade and investment diplomacy through engagements at key international platforms, including Commonwealth-related events and strategic investment forums in the UK. I appreciate the support of the Honourable Minister and Mr. President in driving efforts to attract foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones,” he said.

Early indicators suggest growing investor confidence, with increased UK interest in Nigeria’s industrial and trade ecosystem. Analysts believe the President’s diplomatic outreach, including high-level engagements with the British monarchy, alongside ongoing macroeconomic reforms, is helping to dismantle long-standing barriers to foreign direct investment.