NIPC collates $15.15b investments in first half of 2019

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission says it has collated 15.15 billion dollars investments in the country for the first half of 2019.
Yewande Sadiku, NIPC Executive Secretary, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference.
Presenting its first half of 2019 Investment Reports, Sadiku said that the investments were collated through the NIPC Intelligence Newsletters.
Sadiku said that the report showed that a total of 43 projects across 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory were announced from investors in 20 countries.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the destination states for the investments were Ogun, Lagos, Kaduna, Ondo, and Enugu among others.
Oil and Gas investments according to the reports are to be sited offshore Nigeria.
She said: “Comparatively, the announcements made in the first half of 2019 were 67 per cent less in value than the announcements in the same period of 2018.
“This was probably due to many investors waiting for the conclusion of national elections and handover in the first half of 2019.’’
She explained that major announcements were from Royal Dutch Shell Plc, with 10 billion dollars in crude exploration and Moroccan OCP Group’s plan to build a 1.5 billion dollars ammonia plant in three states.
The executive secretary noted that there was joint venture contract between Malaysian partners and Nigerian Oil Companies, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Ltd. worth 901.79 million dollars.
She said the contract was for the exploration of crude oil at the Anyala and Madu oil fields located in Niger Delta, approximately 40 kilometers offshore Bayelsa, Nigeria.
Sadiku said there were announcements from Netherlands which accounted for 66 per cent by value, followed by Morocco at 14 per cent, and Nigeria at nine per cent.
She said: “The Report also showed that mining and quarrying sector accounts for 81 per cent, manufacturing sector is 14 per cent, and finance and insurance is two per cent.
“The major destination is the Niger-Delta region with 77 per cent, followed by Ondo State at seven per cent, including Lagos State at four per cent of the value announced.’’
She said that the NIPC’s Intelligence Newsletter published Nigerian investment-related news culled from various sources.
She said that the report was based only on investment announcements cited in NIPC’s Newsletters from January to June 2019.
According to her, it may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period.
Sadiku said nevertheless, the Report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy.
She added: “NIPC did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but is working on collating the announcements as they progress to actual investments.’’