- Unveils platform to facilitate businesses
Acting Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Mr. Emeka Offor, yesterday said the agency tracked a total of $8.99 billion as investment announcements involving 33 projects spread across eight states of the federation in the third quarter of the year (Q3 2021).
Speaking at the third quarter (Q3) NIPC media engagement in Abuja, Offor said the investment interests were 130 per cent higher than the $3.95 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2020.
Though not actual investments, the development tends to demonstrate a gradual boost in investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.
The NIPC boss also said the commission was putting in place a mechanism that would allow it validate the announcements as well as progress from announcements to actual investments and sustain its engagement with the sub-national governments through the State Investment Promotion Agencies (State IPAs).
He said the engagement would seek to expand the current coverage of the Nigerian Investment Certification Programme for States (NICPS).
Offor said NIPC recently had an engagement with State Investment Promotion Agencies aimed at building synergy across states for regional investment promotion and sustainable economic development, building relationships with international development organisations, including UNIDO, GIZ, and Afreximbank, to build the capacity of staff as well as elevate the country’s investment potentials.
Offor, who also launched the commission’s Single Window Investors’ Platform (SWIP), said the project which commenced in 2020, sought to enable NIPC leverage technology to better deliver on its mandate. He explained that the single window platform was an offshoot of the One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) which was established in 2006, with 13 participating agencies, cutting across federal, state and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure convenience, efficiency, simplicity, speed and transparency.
He said through the centre, operational manuals of participating agencies, as regards processing of investment entry requirements, had been streamlined.
The executive secretary added that the virtual OSIC was envisaged to enhance its effectiveness and ensure timely service.
He stressed that the commission would always strive towards excellence, adding that the foundation for transparency, accountability and proactive disclosure has been laid.
He added, “We are committed to building on the successes of recent years as well as breaking new frontiers.”
Speaking on the investment announcement for the period under review, NIPC Director, Strategic Services, Mr. Abubakar Yerima, said August was most active during the quarter, accounting for 64 per cent of the total announcements. Yerima said the top 10 announcements accounted for 96 per cent of the volume tracked.
He said compared to Q3 2020, there was a marked improvement in the level of confidence in the investing community post-COVID-19.
According to him, Lagos State received the largest share of the investment announcements with 20 projects, accounting for 81 per cent ($7.29 billion) of the total in manufacturing, information and communications, finance and insurance, human health and social services, and electricity.
Rivers recorded $300 million worth of investment interest in manufacturing and transportation, while Oyo had $231 million announced in electricity and trade (e-commerce).
Those states accounted for 87 per cent of the total investments.
He said the top sectors with the highest announcements included manufacturing, which accounted for 42 per cent, followed by electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply with 25 per cent, information and communications recorded 23 per cent as well as and transportation with seven per cent.
Yerima explained that domestic investors were the most active during the period, accounting for 47 per cent of the announcements, followed by announcements from South Korea 22 per cent, South Africa 16 per cent, and the Kingdom of Spain, which recorded six per cent.
Nonetheless, the report was based only on the news articles cited in NIPC’s Newsletters published from July to September 2021.
NIPC pointed out that although the investment announcement reports were not actual investments, and might not contain exhaustive information on all investment interests in the country during the period, they provided a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy.
The commission also said it did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but working on tracking the announcements as they progress to actual investments.
