TheCable

Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) says investment proposals worth $23.30 billion were announced in 2021.

The figure is 39 percent higher than the $16.74 billion investment announcements made in 2020.

Emeka Offor, acting executive secretary of NIPC, disclosed this at a media briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to Offor, the increase was indicative of the growing adaptation to the global ‘new normal’ after the economic disruption occasioned by the restrictions imposed to check the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The 2021 Investments Announcement Report indicated that $23.30 billion was tracked during the year, representing about 39 percent more than the value tracked in 2020 ($16.74 billion),” he said.

“The increase in value is indicative of the growing adaptation to the global ‘new normal’ after the economic disruption occasioned by the restrictions imposed to check the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

“It also indicates the growing confidence of investors in the efforts to improve the national investment landscape.”

Offor also disclosed that Lagos topped the 36 states in Nigeria and the federal territory by the value of investments with $8.7 billion, followed by Bayelsa State ($3.6 billion); Delta State ($2.9 billion); Akwa Ibom State ($2 billion) and Adamawa State ($1 billion). 

He added that the manufacturing sector had the highest number of projects with $10.5 billion, representing 45 percent of the total inflow. 

Others on the top five sectors were construction (16 percent), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (13 percent), information and communication (12 percent), and mining and quarrying (9 percent).

Offor noted that the NIPC work in the next five years would focus on the National Development Plan 2021 – 2022 (NDP), which has projected a capital requirement of N348.7 trillion with 86 percent (N298.3 trillion) expected from the private sector.

“Mobilisation of the capital has become the focus of the Commission. It is in this respect that the commission has begun the process of validating the records of the investment announcements. We expect the report from this exercise to give us a further understanding of investors’ readiness to invest in Nigeria,” he said.

“The improving valuation of the continent, its urbanisation drift, demographic structure and expected growth in intra-trade activities facilitated by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) are strong parameters that would continue to attract investors across the world.”

NIPC’s report is based only on investment announcements cited in its newsletters may not contain exhaustive information on all investments in Nigeria during the period.

The commission had said its investment announcements report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy.