Nigeria, Third largest Recipient of FDI in Africa, 15 states Attract No Investments

Nigeria has been ranked the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment in Africa, according to data from Ernst & Young.

The Ernst & Young, EY, Africa Attractiveness Survey 2019 Report, which was launched in Lagos on Wednesday, showed that FDI inflow into Nigeria stood at $8 billion in 2018. Egypt was the largest recipient of FDI in 2018 with $12 billion, while Algeria was second largest with $9 billion.

The data showed that the $8 billion invested in Nigeria were in 85 projects, which created 10,000 jobs. In terms of number of projects, South Africa was ranked as number one as 110 projects were created by FDI worth $5bn, which created 12,000 jobs.

The data also said Africa’s FDI was dominated by services projects making, which made two-thirds of the total. It noted that the services were majorly retail, financial services, telecoms, media, technology, business services and life sciences.

The report read in part, “West Africa was the fourth largest FDI destination in Africa in 2018. Over a five-year period (2014 – 2018) West Africa was larger than East Africa in terms of FDI, and ranked third. “Consumer accounts for just fewer than 25 per cent of the total FDI in West Africa, the bulk flowing to Nigeria and Ghana, the two key markets.

Meanwhile data from National Bureau of Statistics, NBS has revealed that 15 states attract no investments in six months— Between January and June 2019.

The stated that 15 state governments could not attract any form of fresh investments to their states.

The NBS’s capital importation report contains the total amount of fresh investments attracted to the Nigerian economy during the period of time.

In the report, which was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, the NBS revealed that none of the 15 states contributed to the entire $14.31bn which the federation attracted during the first half of this year.

The states that could not attract any form of investment inflow are Abia, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa and Enugu. Others listed in the report are Kebbi, Kogi Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

Based on the analysis of the NBS report, about 20 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory were able to secure fresh investments inflow into their states within the period under review. The states that got new investments included Lagos State, which attracted the highest amount of $8.9 billion during the six-month period. The $8.9 billion investment inflow into Lagos State represents about 62.19 per cent of the $14.31 billion. Lagos is followed by the Federal Capital Territory which attracted a total investment inflow of $5.25 billion.