The Chief Executive Officer, Lagos Free Zone (LFZ)- the first privately-owned free zone in Nigeria, Mrs. Adesuwa Ladoja, has promised to continue its strategic alliance with the Bank of Industry (BOI) in a bid to drive the development of the Zone.
Ladoja disclosed this during a tour of LFZ’s facilities with the management team of BOI located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos over the weekend.
While applauding the Bank of Industry for being instrumental to the growth of the Zone, she expressed eagerness to continue partnering with BOI to actualise its vision.
She said with the support of BOI, the Zone would be empowered to build more infrastructure that would motivate prospective clients and manufacturers to invest in the industrial park.
She highlighted that the provision of ready-to-lease infrastructure such as the pre-built plug-and-play factories at the LFZ would equally enable investors to avoid the cost of setup and regulatory approvals.
“Right from our early days, BOI has been helping with the establishment of our plants and industries. We are hoping that going forward, they can continue to support us, especially in the area of developing ready-to-lease warehouses and factories,” she said.
Read Also: Paris 2024 Olympics: Nigeria’s Ajayi, Ashe advance into 100m men’s semis
In his response, the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Olasupo Olusi stated that the agency has a clear mandate to support businesses or investors that can enhance the industrial transformation of the country, hence the reason for the visit to the Zone.
Expressing satisfaction with the quality of the infrastructure at the Zone, Olusi maintained that the past investment by the agency was fully justified.
In his remarks, the Group Managing Director, Tolaram- Africa, Haresh Aswani, who expressed profound appreciation for the visit stated that Tolaram would continue to build and sustain the existing relationship between it and BOI.
Aswani said past collaborations had yielded good results leading to the establishment of several factories located in the Zone.
“First of all, I want to thank the team from the Bank of Industry for coming to visit us in the Zone. Tolaram and the Bank of Industry have been working very closely for almost 35 years. And hopefully, we will start doing more things together. There is still so much work to be done in the country,” he said.
In appreciation of the support received from the BOI despite the challenging business environment in Nigeria, he added “And for the last 35 years, they have been holding our hand as a group to build industries. By now, we have already built 25 different factories all over the country. We would like to thank the team at Bank of Industry for their faith in us and for the support they have given us.”