Only Oyo, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, FCT, Ogun and Rivers State Attracted Foreign Investments in 2017 – Report
About 30 state governments could not attract any form of fresh investments into their states between January and June this year, an analysis of a capital importation report obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.
That report revealed that only five states within the first six months of this year recorded any form of fresh investment inflow in key sectors of the economy.
The states that got new investments are Lagos State, which attracted the highest amount of $2.6bn during the six months period, followed by Akwa Ibom with $52.44m.
The Federal Capital Territory followed with $31.51m while Ogun State attracted fresh investment inflows of $5.31m; Oyo had $5.25m, and Rivers recorded $550,000 of investments.
The document from the NBS gave the sectors where the funds were invested as shares, which had the highest amount of $932.58m; agriculture, $23.71m; banking, $89.8m; brewing, $4.83m; construction, $1.71m; and consultancy, $4.2m.
Others are drilling, $1.21m; electrical, $6.38m; financing, $57.31m; Information Technology services, $6.28m; marketing, $90,000; oil and gas, $190.39m; and production, $141.42m. The rest are servicing, $145.56m; hotels, $170,000; telecoms, $174.18m; and trading, $12.53m.
What the country needs to attract foreign investment is for the government to implement a well articulated industrial plan and an enterprise development agenda aimed at bringing in a new era for industrial development in Nigeria.
The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry has made it known to the government that the issue of power and energy must be urgently addressed in order to promote industry, boost productivity, and attract both foreign and local direct investment.
There are numerous investment opportunities in Nigeria but a lot of investors particularly the foreign investors are not taking this advantage owing to the fact that they have a poor perception of the investment climate. This is understandable when you consider the fact that the operating environment is not friendly and the lack of continuity in some programmes of government.
SOLA OJO contributed to this report 30-08-2017-Wednesday