Nigeria’s Investment Announcements in 2018 Stood at $90.9bn -Osinbajo

• Nigeria’s Investment Announcements in 2018 Stood at $90.9bn -Osinbajo

The Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has said the federal government tracked $90.9 billion investment announcements in 2018 against the $66.4 billion announced in 2017.

The Vice President, who spoke at the first Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum at the State House, Abuja on Tuesday, said since President Muhammadu Buhari and Prime Minister Theresa May signed the Economic Development Forum in August 2018 investors interest in the country has grown.

“The Economic Development Forum was signed in August 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari and Prime Minister, Theresa May, in London as a platform to foster economic and development ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom,” a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, said.

The Vice President said, “We have seen increased investor-interest in Nigeria by the investment announcements that we track, with $90.9bn of investment announcements in 2018, a 37 per cent increase over the $66.4bn tracked in 2017.

“We are interested in these announcements because we know that if we nurture them correctly, we can turn them into actual investments.

“There is also a steady rise in investor confidence, with an increase in the number of significant deal announcements. Eighteen days ago, Jumia, an online marketplace company that started in Nigeria, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the first African start-up to do so. It received such a warm investor response that it has since appreciated over 125 per cent… It will be interesting to see more transactions like this, and several between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

“Already, there are four Nigerian companies listed on the main board of the London Stock Exchange, although only one Nigerian company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, is listed in both Nigeria and the UK. It is also fascinating that about half of the companies on the FTSE 100 have exposure to Nigeria.

“By leveraging the EDF, I hope that we will continue to build on the existing foundation and work together on recording increased trade and investment flows, particularly in the areas where we have comparative advantages.”

The Vice President mentioned some of the steps of this administration at boosting investors confidence across the Nigerian sector.

He said, “We have taken these challenges as opportunities and have made the extensive build-out of modern infrastructure (both hard and soft) as the main thrust of our administration.

“In the last three years, the government has allocated and disbursed over N3.5tn from the national budgets to infrastructure.

“The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council has made significant progress in reducing bottlenecks, eliminating redundancies and increasing transparency across government ministries, departments and agencies.”

Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, UK, stated that the forum was supportive of Nigeria’s efforts at transforming the economy, especially on job creation.