‘Imo, Kaduna, 20 Others Didn’t Attract Fresh Investments in Q1’

• ‘Imo, Kaduna, 20 Others Didn’t Attract Fresh Investments in Q1’

Between January and March this year, about 22 state governors could not attract any form of fresh investments into their states, an analysis of the capital importation report has revealed.

The capital importation report, prepared by the National Bureau of Statistics, contains the total amount of fresh investments attracted into the Nigerian economy during a particular period of time.

In the report, which was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, the NBS revealed that none of the 22 states contributed to the entire $6.3bn (N2.26tn), which the federation attracted during the three-month period.

The states that could not attract any form of investment inflow are Abia, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna and Zamfara.

Others are Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Ondo and Osun.

Based on the analysis of the report, only 15 state governments were able to secure fresh investments in the first quarter of this year.

The Federal Capital Territory led with a total investment of $3.54bn in the three-month period.

The $3.54bn represented about 56.2 per cent of the entire $6.3bn, which the federation attracted during the period under review.

A breakdown of the figures showed that the FCT attracted the sum of $1.62bn in January, $782.2m in February and $1.14bn in March.

Lagos State attracted $2.67bn, followed by Akwa Ibom, which had $43.62m.

Lagos State’s $2.67bn investments came thus; $948.19m in January, $836.43m in February and $882.21m in March.

In the same vein, Ogun attracted a total investment of $24.81m; Oyo, $8.63m; Anambra, $5m; while Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue and Borno states each attracted $2m investment inflows.

Others are Kano, $1.23m; Delta, $399,940; Rivers, $361,111; Cross River, $230,000; and Enugu, $1,632.

The Executive Secretary, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Yewande Sadiku, last week said the agency was working with states to make them more attractive to investors.

She stated that the commission currently had a seamless collaboration with the states to enable it to monitor closely investments inflow into the country as a one-stop centre.

Sadiku stated, “We are interested in seeing more Nigerians invest in the country, and we have a Domestic Direct Investment model now in the commission, and we are working with the National Bureau of Statistics to track investments inflow into the country.

“The current efforts of the NIPC in working more closely with the states is to increase the level of investment inflow into the country and to ensure seamless collaboration and proper tracking.”