Sinolat Consultants has shaped Africa's Special Economic Zone ecosystem from within — led by Dr Adesina A. Agboluaje, former Managing Director of NEPZA, with over three decades of first-hand experience.
Dr Adesina Agboluaje is a prolific and seasoned achiever with extensive first-hand experience and a distinguished success record at the highest levels of Nigeria's economic governance. Though formally trained in Engineering and Architecture, his deepest passion lies in Social Economics and the economic development and emancipation of Nigeria's people.
As Managing Director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), he repositioned the Authority, established 23 new Free Trade Zones across Nigeria, and oversaw the regulatory commissioning of some of Africa's most consequential industrial corridors — including the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone, the Lekki Free Trade Zone, the Lagos Free Zone, and the Dangote Industries Free Zone.
"Nigeria is the hope of Africa. The Free Zone scheme is the vehicle through which that hope becomes investment, industry, and irreversible economic transformation."
Leading Africa's foremost SEZ advisory firm. Special Adviser to the Board of Directors of NEPZA (2019). Active across Nigeria and pan-African mandates.
Represented Nigeria across China, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan.
Established 23 new Free Trade Zones. Oversaw $26B+ in cumulative FDI across Nigeria's flagship zones.
Revived the zone, registered 75+ companies, steered it to commissioning by President Obasanjo.
Our leadership team combines decades of regulatory authority, legal expertise, and enterprise delivery capability — giving every client the full weight of institutional knowledge and professional excellence.
The founding architect of Sinolat Consultants and Nigeria's most experienced Special Economic Zone authority. As Managing Director of NEPZA from 2004 to 2012, Dr Agboluaje established 23 new Free Trade Zones, oversaw over $26 billion in cumulative FDI, and shaped the regulatory frameworks governing every major zone in Nigeria — including Lekki, Lagos, Dangote, and Ogun Guangdong.
His career spans the full arc of Nigeria's SEZ story — from reviving the Calabar Free Trade Zone to representing Nigeria across Asia as Honourable Commissioner for Investments and Trade. His NEPZA legacy is inscribed in Nigeria's industrial landscape.
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Barrister with 40+ years at the bar. Former Company Secretary & Legal Adviser of NEPZA (2000–2009) — the same institution that governs Nigeria's Free Zones. Brings unmatched regulatory legal authority to every Sinolat mandate.
PMP-certified Senior Project Manager with 10+ years leading complex enterprise programmes across financial services, healthcare and retail. Brings world-class delivery discipline and digital intelligence to Sinolat's pan-African advisory work.
Sinolat's advisory practice is built on decades of lived experience inside Nigeria's SEZ regulatory framework. We advise governments, investors, and zone developers on every dimension of the Free Zone lifecycle.
End-to-end advisory on establishing new Special Economic Zones — from feasibility and master planning through regulatory licensing and investor attraction.
Expert drafting and review of the legal and operational frameworks that govern Free Trade Zones, drawing on first-hand NEPZA regulatory experience.
Strategic guidance from zone selection and due diligence through licence applications, enterprise registration, and customs compliance.
Positioning Free Zones to maximise benefits under the African Continental Free Trade Area — rules-of-origin strategy and regional value chain linkages.
Staff training, incentive administration, and regulatory compliance monitoring — ensuring enterprises maximise all available benefits within the law.
Full project management from conception to completion — infrastructure delivery, operator selection, and zone commissioning with enterprise-grade rigour.
High-level strategic counsel to governments and regulatory authorities on SEZ policy design, institutional reform, and industrial development strategy.
Operational advisory on governance structures, investor services, and zone performance management — from the experience of those who ran Nigeria's finest zones.
Every engagement Sinolat undertakes is shaped by values that are not aspirational — they are operational.
Passion for results and positive impacts in line with our clients' aspirations, and unwavering commitment to standards, quality, and professionalism in every dimension of our business process.
Strong intellectual honesty to always say things as they are in an assertive way, and genuine openness to admit to new beliefs. We tell clients what they need to hear, not only what they want to hear.
Ensuring sustainability in the growth of our clients' investments is of utmost importance. Our experience has shown that making business meet the test of time in Nigeria demands deep experience with the workings of MDAs.
Over three decades, our principal has governed, licensed, and facilitated the establishment of the zones that define Nigeria's industrial landscape.
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Sinolat Consultants was founded on a premise no global firm can replicate: that the most valuable advisory on African Special Economic Zones comes from those who have governed them, regulated them, and built them from the ground up.
Our principal spent over a decade as the Managing Director of NEPZA. Our Legal Adviser served as the Authority's Company Secretary for nine years. Together, they represent the most concentrated institutional knowledge of Nigeria's SEZ framework available anywhere in the private sector.
Brief us on your challengeWe advise from the vantage point of having written the regulations, licensed the zones, and attracted the investors. Our credibility is inscribed in Nigeria's economic landscape.
We are not a global firm's Africa practice. We are an African firm with global reach — rooted in the realities of the continent and its extraordinary opportunity.
The discipline, determination, and professional integrity that guided three decades of public service govern every client relationship Sinolat holds today.
Whether you are a government planning a new SEZ, an investor evaluating entry, or a zone developer seeking operational advisory — tell us your challenge.
No 8 Ramalah Abubakar Close,
Life Camp, Abuja, Nigeria
principalpartner@sinolatconsultants.com
Nigeria · West Africa · East Africa
Pan-African SEZ mandates