Even though Nigeria’s special economic zone (SEZ) policies own their inception to the observed success of Lekki free trade SEZs on FDI inflows, job creation, and industrialization, hardly any attempt has been made by Nigerian researchers and policy makers to understand what exactly made lekki so successful. This thesis discusses the fundamental elements which contributed to the success of SEZ’s in Nigeria while drawing lessons to analyze the challenges facing the development of Nigeria’s zones. On the basis of analyzing such factors, I argue that China’s policies on SEZ’s cannot be expected to deliver similar performance levels when crudely applied to the geopolitical and economic disparities across Nigerian regions, rather, Nigeria’s SEZ policy requires careful identification of enabling factors, and implementation of supplementary policies for factors which differentiate it from China, while also taking into consideration some inherent similarities which can contribute its local success story.

BUSINESS, SPECIAL, ECONOMIC

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