By Adedapo Adesanya
Some days ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released data on Capital Importation into Nigeria in the third quarter of 2019, and an investigation done by Business Post showed that out of the total of $5.368 billion attracted into the country through foreign investments in the period, the South East and North East regions of the nation contributed zero Dollar to the amount.
This means that none of the five states in the South Eastern region of Nigeria; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo attracted any form of investment in the third quarter of this year, just like the six states in the North Eastern territory; Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.
A further analysis carried out by Business Post indicated that out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, only eight states brought in foreign investments in the country, while the 29 other states recorded zero capital importation in Q3 ’19.
In the South West, only three out of the six states attracted an aggregate of $4.985 billion, with Lagos State taking the lion share as usual, both in the region and the country as a whole. Lagos attracted investments worth $4.976 billion, followed by Ogun and Oyo States which recorded $7 million and $1.7 million respectively. The trio of Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti contributed nothing.
Moving to the South-South zone, also known as Niger Delta, only two out of the six states contributed the $860,000 that came in as foreign investment to the region despite being highly rich in crude oil, Nigeria’s main source of foreign exchange. Edo brought in a total of $830,000 followed by Rivers with $30,000 while Delta, Cross River, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa added nothing.
In the North-Central, the input of the FCT at $381.2 million was the only investment that came from the region, while states such as Kogi, Plateau, Kwara, Benue, Nasarawa, and Niger had no foreign investment in the period under review, according to the stats office.
For North West, only Kano and Kaduna States made contributions to capital inflow in Q3 2019, with the latter bringing in $250,000 worth of foreign investments and the former, Kano, raking $160,000. Other states in the geopolitical zone, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, and Katsina had no inflow into the country.
According to the NBS, Nigeria recorded a decline in capital importation in the third quarter of 2019. It was stated that the investment inflows of $5.4 million was 7.8 percent lower than the $5.8 billion attracted in the second quarter of this year, but 87.9 percent higher than the Q3, 2018 figures.
Modupe Gbadeyanka