UPSEZWA Nigeria

completed

The objective of this Project is to address and eliminate (or at least reduce) the identified market and government-regulatory failures in Nigeria by facilitating inclusive economic growth and equitable social development through the adoption and implementation of competitive SEZ legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks that align with Chapter 14 of the ECOWAS Investment Policy (“ECOWIP”-2018) and the Paris Agreement. These competitive best-practice frameworks are then reasonably expected to allow for downstream private SEZ investments (e.g., Nigerian Diaspora investment from the United States), as potentially financed in part by IFC, in the healthcare, aeronautics, manufacturing, agribusiness, petrochemical, and infrastructure sectors, among others. The vehicle to achieve this objective is through a new generation of SEZs that integrates social activities that will be developed and operated by private-sector enterprises (i.e., SEZ developers/operators) as regulated by the Nigerian SEZ administrative authority. Specifically, by Project completion IFC expects to achieve the following outcomes: • Adoption of a new national SEZ Law and national SEZ Implementing Regulations that align with Chapter 14 of the ECOWIP and the Paris Agreement; • Creation and operation of at least 1 Medical SEZ; • Creation and operation of two (2) Aviation SEZs that adhere or commit to international environmental reforms and standards; and • 100 new SEZ enterprises operating in any of the Nigerian SEZs.