26 States in Nigeria record no investment in 2020- Report
By Olusegun Obisanya
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed in its report that was released recently that 26 states of the Nigerian federation failed to attract investments in the whole of 2020. The states, as disclosed in the report include Ekiti, Kogi, Delta, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Oyo, Ondo, Borno, Cross River and 15 other state governments failed to attract investments in 2020.
Others listed in the report are Bauchi, Benue, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.
The NBS’s capital importation report contains the total amount of fresh investments attracted to the Nigerian economy during the period of time.
According to 2019 report, unfortunately, 11 out of the 26 states listed above also failed to attract foreign investment in 2019. They are Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, and Gombe,
This implies that none of the 26 states’ governors contributed to the $23.988 billion the other 10 states and the Federal Capital territory attracted in 2020, a development contrary to their electoral promises.
Aside from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could also mean that either necessary steps were not taken by the governments to attract investments. It could also mean that foreign investors saw no attraction in the states or the environments were not conducive enough for investment, which place enormous burden on the state governments to act fast and put necessary incentives in place for the inflow of foreign direct investment.
Meanwhile, Lagos dominates investors’ delight state. The states that got new investments include Lagos State, which attracted the highest amount of $8.304 billion during the year. The $8.304 billion investment inflow into Lagos State represents about 85.78 per cent of the $9.680 billion.
It was followed by the Federal Capital Territory which attracted a total investment inflow of $1.270 billion. Abia State attracted the sum of $56.07 million; Niger State got N16.36 million and Ogun got N13.39 million.
Anambra, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and Akwa Ibom recorded investment inflow of N10.02 million, N4.03 million, N2.50 million, N2.38 million and N1.08 million respectively.
