The federal government expects more than $7 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year following the successful resolution of a five-year dispute between the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) group of companies and Samsung Heavy. Industries, which operate in the Lagos Free Trade Zone.
The two organizations had responded to the application of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism championed by the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).
This decision eventually gave rise to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two companies in Abuja yesterday.
The land lease dispute between LADOL Group, an indigenous company, and Samsung, a Korean company, began in 2018 with the NPA’s alleged unilateral revocation of a 25-year lease approval given to LADOL and its replacement by a direct lease in 2019.
NPA claimed to have ceded part of the land belonging to LADOL to Samsung. The controversy had led to the closure of commercial activities in the area by the two companies with more than 3,000 jobs lost.
Concerned about the protracted dispute, Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi looked into the matter, leading to resolution.