Investing in the Calabar FTZ

According to the General Manager of the Calabar Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Nigeria , the FTZ has so far registered 100 companies of which 36 are already operational.


The reasons for this upsurge is not far-fetched.

The FTZ, commissioned in 2001 and located about one kilometre from the Port of Calabar is only merely 93km from the open sea, thereby making sea transportation easily accessible.

The Calabar Free Trade Zone covers a land mass of about 200 hectares thus offering ample space for production, assembling, and repackaging of products to be distributed within Nigeria, Africa, Asia, and the West.


The FTZ also extends policies and incentives not available in the domestic economy. By virtue of the establishing Act, every investor is regarded as a foreign investor, registration is handled by the zone as opposed to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and business licences are subsequently also issued by the zone. Companies are exempted from tax but subject to one (1) per cent duty on raw materials used for production .

The Federal Government has also passed an aggressive Free Zone Law which has created a business-friendly environment with incentives including complete tax holidays for all federal, state and local government taxes, customs duties and levies, one-stop approvals for all permits, operating licences and incorporation papers, duty-free/tax-free import of raw materials for goods destined for re-export, duty-free introduction of capital goods, consumer goods components, machinery, equipment and furniture.

Furthermore, the establishing law provides permission to channel for sale, 100 per cent of manufactured, assembled or imported goods into the domestic Nigerian market; and import duties on these goods manufactured in the free zone, further calculated on the basis of the value of the raw materials or components used in assembly as opposed to the finished product.

Finally, investors enjoy 100 per cent foreign ownership, repartriation of profits, and expatriate quotas.

It is little wonder therefore that the Calabar FTZ is a sitting goldmine for the smart investor.

For views of the zone, click here http://www.tinapa.com/ or follow the links on the left.