- Eighteen States, FCT Attracted $73.08bn Investments in Three Months
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udoma, has said that 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory attracted proposed investment worth of $73.08bn for 65 projects between January and March 2018.
He stated this while speaking on efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria an attractive place for businesses to thrive, during the ‘42nd annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria’, in Lagos on Thursday.
Udoma said, “These efforts are bearing fruit as recent surveys conducted by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission indicate that there has been a significant rise ininvestment interests in Nigeria.
“The NIPC reports that for the first three quarters of 2018, a total of $73.08bn worth of proposed investments were announced for 65 projects in 18 states and the FCT.”
While giving the sectoral breakdown of the figures, he said there were 11 sectors of interest, with mining and quarrying accounting for 43 per cent of the total value, while construction had 25 per cent.
He added that manufacturing had 23 per cent; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, and transportation and storage, each had three per cent, while the remaining sectors accounted for two per cent.
The minister, however, said that although all announcements do not successfully executed projects, the increase in announcements signalled improved confidence in the economy.
According to him, the Federal Government has prioritised improvements in the business climate to make Nigeria an attractive place for business to be conducted.
Udoma, who said that the country was making progress in its efforts to revive and diversify the economy, pointed out that the economy was not sufficiently diversified.
“While the oil and gas sector constitutes less than 10 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product, it still represents too large a percentage of our foreign exchange earnings,” he said.