Nigeria records $8.99bn investment interests in Q3

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has said that the country attracted over $8.99 billion investment in the third quarter of 2021.

The NIPC Director of Strategic Services, Abubakar Yerima, stated that the $8.99 billion investment tracked in Q3 of 2021 is higher than the $3.95 billion recorded in the same period of 2020 representing a growth of 130 percent.

The commission stated that it has been tracking investment announcements through its Intelligence Newsletter, which gives a fair sense of investment interest in the Nigerian economy.

Yerima, at a media parley yesterday, also explained that 33 projects were tracked across eight states during the period under review stressing that the month of August 2021 was the most active during the quarter, accounting for 64 per cent of the total investment.

According to the commission, the top 10 announcements accounted for 96 per cent of the volume tracked compared to Q3 2020, thus signifying a marked improvement in the level of confidence around the investing community post Covid-19.

‘’In the period covered by the report, Lagos state received the largest share of the investment announcement with 20 projects accounting for 81 per cent or $7.29 billion of the total, in manufacturing, information and communication, finance and insurance, human health and social services and electricity sectors.

‘’Rivers State came second attracting $300 million worth of investments announcements in manufacturing and transportation, while Oyo State came third with $231 million investments in electricity and trade [e-commerce).

In his keynote address, the NIPC Acting Executive Secretary, Emeka Offor, stated that the report was based only on the news articles cited in NIPC Newsletter published between July and September, 2021 adding that it may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria in the period under review.

He noted that the NIPC is already working with relevant organisations under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments to organize Nigeria’s participation at the World Expo held in Dubai.