Balyesa, Delta Beat Lagos To Become Top Investment Destinations For Q1 2021

Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) reports that US$8.41 billion was tracked as investment announcements for Q1 2021, about 75% more than the value in the corresponding period in 2020 (US$4.81 billion). This follows the gradual return of investors’ confidence globally after the COVID-induced decline.

The Commission continues the release of the NIPC Intelligence Newsletter 6 days a week and tracked a total of 15 projects across 8 states in the period under review.

Bayelsa State received the largest share of the announcements with US$3.6 billion in mining and quarrying. Delta State recorded US$2.94 billion worth of announcements in seaport construction and power transmission, Akwa Ibom State had US$1.4 billion announced in mining and quarrying, and Lagos State with announcements totalling US$0.26 billion in finance, insurance, and manufacturing. The report showed that the leading 4 destinations this quarter accounted for 97% of the total investments announced as against 56% in the corresponding period last year.

The top sectors were manufacturing (60%), and construction (34%). Domestic investors were the most active during the period accounting for 35% of the announcements. This was followed by announcements from Morocco (17%), the United Kingdom (3%) and the USA (1%).

By sector, manufacturing received the largest investment accounting for 60 percent ($5.08 billion; followed by construction ($2.90 billion); electricity ($0.26 billion); and agriculture ($0.11 billion).

The federal government was the highest major source of investments in Q1, which accounted for 35 percent ($2.95 billion). Other sources of investments in Nigeria were Morocco ($1.40 billion); United Kingdom ($0.24 billion), and United States ($0.08 billion).

In terms of volume, NIPC said Nigeria received 15 projects across eight states compared to Q1 2020 with 19 projects across 14 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The commission, however, said that its report may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period under review as it is based only on the 340 news articles cited in NIPC’s newsletters from January to March 2021.

NIPC’s Intelligence Newsletter publishes Nigerian investment-related news culled, from various sources. This report is based only on the 340 news articles cited in NIPC’s Newsletters from January to March 2021; it may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period. Nevertheless, the Report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy. NIPC did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but is working on tracking the announcements as they progress to actual investments.