Foreign investment inflow into Nigeria drops by $18.6bn – NBS

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that foreign investment inflow into Nigeria declined by $18.6bn in four years (2019-2022).

Meanwhile, eight states of the federation failed to attract any form of foreign investment, according to the report.

The states are Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa and Kebbi.

Foreign investments refer to revenue inflow from external sources into an economy either as direct capital investments, equity, cash or goods.

According to data published by the NBS, Nigeria attracted $23.9bn as foreign investments in 2019.

By 2020, the figure declined to $9.6bn. It declined again in 2021 to $6.7bn and once more to $5.3bn in 2022. This implies a decline of $18.6bn during the four-year period.

However, the most populous black nation in Africa raked in about $46bn in the four years period.

Lagos State led with the highest foreign investments ($35.4bn), while Federal Capital Territory followed with foreign inflow of $10bn.

Further analysis of the data showed that the vast majority of the states that underperformed with regard to attracting foreign investments were states in the Northeast political zone.

In the North-East, the decade-long fundamentalist insurgency led by Boko Haram and its spawns have caused around 350,000 deaths, displaced over three million residents and destroyed public infrastructure in a region already blighted by poverty and poor socio-economic outcomes.

Experts have cited the protracted conflicts in the region as a putative reason why investors have often shied away from Northeastern Nigeria. The conflicts have ultimately left a devastating mark on the informal sector of the region’s economy.