Lagos Free Zone in partnership talks with Gluwa to boost trade, commerce

By Olivia Nnorom

The Lekki Free Zone Development Company (LFZ) is in talks with Gluwa, a blockchain technology company, on the possibility of partnering to use the blockchain to foster trade collaboration, growth, and sustainability among new and existing Free Zone enterprises.

This partnership is part of LFZ’s drive to strengthen its contribution to the Nigerian economy and would also explore the creation of a Virtual Free Zone within the Lekki Free Zone.

Tomiwa Idowu, head of strategy, innovation & special projects at LFZ, disclosed in a statement that discussions were ongoing between LFZ, the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority and the Gluwa team.

When finalized, the partnership will mirror the integration of OpenSea and Compound by creating a dashboard for the tokenization of goods into NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and provide digital asset-backed loans for new and existing enterprises who are looking to fund operations, and/or expand their businesses, Idowu said.

Idowu shared his vision for innovating the trading and industrial sector in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, bringing it into the modern information age with the Lekki Free Zone at the epicentre.

“I am extremely excited by the enormous potential of such a partnership, which would further establish Lagos State as Africa’s leading sub-national in terms of innovation, economic development and revenue generation,” he said.

He commended the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as a beacon of progress and hope for the nation in general, stating that the governor has been a firm believer in fast-paced development, which involves using technology to leapfrog bureaucracy and going straight to solving immediate problems.

Tae Oh, CEO at Gluwa, noted that the firm is keen to partner with the Lekki Free Zone, the largest and most developed Free Zone in Nigeria with proximity to the deep-sea port as well as the Dangote refinery. Thus, the digitization of the sector will enable harnessing its full potential such that a standard process to digitize goods manufactured or processed within the zone in tandem with a market system on web3 will allow manufacturers to trade globally via the blockchain.

The Gluwa CEO said all trades will be registered and benefit from the incentives of the Lekki Free Zone such as zero taxation and free circulation of goods. Also, as soon as the goods get settled for export by the in-Zone Customs Processing Centre, they will get shipped out straight from the Lekki Free Zone via the deep-sea port. This is to reduce delays, eliminate human errors, exponentially drive up Nigeria’s non-oil exports and sustain a positive trade balance for the nation, while the team works out the fine details and a specific framework with NEPZA.