A survey conducted by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission has revealed that 10 out of the 36 states in Nigeria currently have no functional Investment Promotion Agency.
The Executive Secretary, NIPC, Yewande Sadiku, disclosed the outcome of the survey during a media briefing in Abuja.
The survey revealed that 26 states, representing 72 per cent, had a functional IPA with a mandate to promote investments; six states, representing 17 per cent, had the function situated within a Ministry; and four states, representing 11 per cent, had it in government parastatals.
She called on state governments to set up functional investment promotion agencies to attract both local and Foreign Direct Investments.
Yewande said the move was to afford the NIPC a scientific basis that could be used to enhance working relationships with states and provide the necessary support to sub national investment promotion mechanisms.
“In reality, according to our records, existing structured SIPAs are not up to 26 but we continue to encourage the state governments to set up these agencies, backed by legal instruments,” she said.
Based on the survey, the highest investment attraction in states include agriculture, manufacturing, education, solid minerals development and construction or real estates.
The Commission advised states’ Investment Promotion Agencies to leverage on its database and its several reform programmes to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in investment promotion drive.
Also speaking at the event, NIPC’s Director, Investment Promotion, Adeshina Emmanuel, said the Commission had put in place an investor tracking mechanism to follow up with investment announcements with a view to translating them into actual investments.
He said the Department, working with Stratcom, was developing an investor tracking sheet, which it intends to use for the purpose of follow up, to know how the Commission might help in actualising investment plans.
Speaking further, Adeshina said NIPC had also designed a standard web-based template for profiling investment opportunities and manages the collected information with an intelligent, modern database.
