The federal house of representatives is working towards legalising the proposed Nigerian Free Trade commission to manage and regulate activities of Free Trade Zones (FTZ) in the country.

The house recently passed the bill that is supposed to repeal the Export Processing Zones Authority Act 1992 through the second reading.

This comes at a time when investors in the zones are demanding adequate infrastructure and consistent policies.

Sponsors of the bill say the current legal framework has failed to remove all bottlenecks in the operations of the trade zones. The bill before the house will also manage illegal activities such as money laundering allegedly happening in some of the zones.

A recent survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) concluded although the FTZs have managed to attract investments to the economy, investors operating from the zones saw inadequate infrastructure and inconsistent polices as barriers to effective operations.

There are 25 FTZs at various stages of development in the country- seven owned by the Federal Government, 10 owned by states and seven are private sector owned.

Currently the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEZPA) is the regulating authority charged with the responsibility to licence, monitor and facilitate investment in the zones.