Special Economic Zones in the OIC Region:
Learning from Experience
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Box 40 – Lekki Free Zone Success Factors – Economic Success Factors – Interview with Lekki
Free Zone Authority
5.6.6 Success Factors and Challenges
Success Factors
The Lekki Free Zone has attracted significant investment and built significant investment as a
result of some crucial factors, including:
 Partnership between Nigerian and Chinese governments;
 Significant involvement of the private sector, particularly Chinese investors – including
in the development and operation of the zone;
 Good location being close to Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria – including the busiest
port in West Africa, an international airport, and a large potential workforce;
 Attractive incentive regime;
 Effective cooperation between different levels of government – Federal, State and
Municipal government;
 Evolution of legislation and regulation in Nigeria, accompanied by greater political
stability and consistent economic growth helped the Free Zone programme in Nigeria
advance significantly in the early 2000s. This led to increased levels of investment and
development of new zones, including Lekki Free Zone.
Challenges
Nigeria’s LFTZ has faced a number of challenges in its development and operation. Although
significant progress has been made, the development path of the project has faced many
obstacles along the way. Among them are the following:
 Financing constraints and partnership disputes: Construction of the Zone’s
infrastructure and first buildings was delayed for a period because of financial
constraints on the part of the Chinese consortium – this was caused by issues with the
partnership terms within the Chinese consortium and a subsequent restructuring of the
consortium;
The Lekki Free Zone Authority comment that Nigeria’s success in advancing the Free Zone
programme in the early 2000s was built on political stability, economic growth, and a changing
approach to economic policy – whereby state governments were more heavily involved in the
management of economic development programmes. In particular the involvement of the private
sector in the development and operation of the Lekki Free Zone is identified as a key factor which
determined success with regard to the operation and development of the zone.