A latest report by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has said that US$8.41 billion was tracked as investment announcements for Q1 2021, about 75% more than the value in the corresponding period in 2020 (US$4.81 billion).
NIPC disclosed this in its latest newsletter, stating that, “this follows the gradual return of investors’ confidence globally after the COVID-19- induced decline.
The Commission continues the release of the NIPC Intelligence Newsletter six days a week and tracked a total of 15 projects across eight states in the period under review.
Bayelsa State received the largest share of the announcements with US$3.6 billion in mining and quarrying. Delta State recorded US$2.94 billion worth of announcements in seaport construction and power transmission, Akwa Ibom State had US$1.4 billion announced in mining and quarrying, and Lagos State with announcements totalling US$0.26 billion in finance, insurance, and manufacturing. The Report showed that the leading four destinations this quarter accounted for 97% of the total investments announced as against 56% in the corresponding period last year.
The top sectors were manufacturing (60%), and construction (34%). Domestic investors were the most active during the period accounting for 35% of the announcements. This was followed by announcements from Morocco (17%), the United Kingdom (3%) and the USA (1%).
“NIPC’s Intelligence Newsletter publishes Nigerian investment-related news culled, from various sources. This Report is based only on the 340 news articles cited in NIPC’s Newsletters from January to March 2021; it may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period. Nevertheless, the Report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy. “