BY BANYO TEMITAYO
THE Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission has disclosed that foreign investments in Nigeria dropped by 44 per cent in 2020, from $29.91 billion in 2019.
The NIPC said the investment announcements tracked stood at $16.74 billion in 2020.
It linked the decrease to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on not only the Nigerian economy, but also the global value chains and capital flows.
The agency, which disclosed this in its newsletter, noted that the manufacturing sector attracted the highest investment at $8.4 billion.
This, it said, represented 50 per cent of the total investment, adding, however, that the report might not capture all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period.
“Nevertheless, it gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy for planning, decision making and policy design across the board,” the NIPC said.
“The manufacturing sector had the highest number of projects (10) as well as the highest value, which stood at $8.4 billion (50%). Transportation and storage had (28%), information and communication had (11%), mining and quarrying had (6%), while finance and insurance (3%) made up the top five sectors for the year,” it added.
The NIPC noted that it tracked 63 projects across 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory during the year, noting that 24 of the projects were planned for Lagos State, followed by Kaduna and Ekiti states with five projects each.
It said, in terms of value, the top five states are: Rivers State, $6 billion; Kaduna State, $2.8 billion; Kogi State, $1 billion; Lagos State, $0.89 billion; and Ogun State, $0.08 billion.
Singapore accounted for 36 per cent of the project announcements tracked during the period, the agency noted.
Other major sources were China (22 per cent); United States (15 per cent); South Africa (10 per cent); United Kingdom (nine per cent) and domestic investors (eight per cent).
