TheCable

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) says investment in Nigeria rose to $3.95 billion in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020), as Kogi state emerged top destination of investment in the country with $1 billion (25 percent).

This was contained in NIPC’s “report of investment announcements in Nigeria (July – September 2020)” by its department of strategic communications.

The investments in Q3 2020, represents an increase of $3.7 billion compared to Q2 2020 ($0.25 billion), however, it represents a decrease of 57.48 percent compared to Q3 2019 ($9.29 billion).

According to NIPC, this drop in value is due to the impact of COVID-19 and its global economic impact.

By destination of investment, Lagos state came in second after Kogi with $239 million (six percent), followed by Ogun state with $75 million (two percent); and Cross River state with $15 million (0.4 percent).

By sector, transportation received the highest investment accounting for 66 percent ($2.60 billion); following by manufacturing ($1.08 billion); information and communication ($0.10 billion); and mining ($0.08 billion).

Also, China accounted for 66 percent ($2.60 billion) of investments in Nigeria during Q3 2020.

Other major sources of investments were United Kingdom ($1.10 billion), domestic investors ($0.15 billion) and United States ($0.07 billion).

In terms of volume, Nigeria received the least investments in Q3 2020 with 13 projects across eight states, compared to Q2 2020 with 15 projects across three states including the Niger Delta region, and 19 projects across 14 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Q1.