By Adedapo Adesanya
Lagos and seven other states attracted investments worth $8.41 billion into the country through 15 projects between January and March 2021.
This information was revealed by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) in its First Quarter 2021 media parley held over the weekend.
The agency disclosed that other states that attracted the investments were Bayelsa, Kano, Nassarawa, Delta, Edo, Bauchi and Akwa Ibom States.
Speaking at the event, the Director of Strategic Communications of NIPC, Mr Emeka Ofor, said the sources of the investments into the states are the United Kingdom, the United States, India, China, among others.
By sectors, the investments came from manufacturing, construction, mining & quarrying, agriculture and electricity, though they were severely affected.
The director stressed that other states in the federation need to wake up with sound investments ideas to attract both local and international investors to help their states become more viable and Independent without relying on federal allocations.
In his words, “Material Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can only be driven by government policies both at state and federal levels.
“There is a need for bold and coherent policy changes to deepen economic reform to reverse the decline expected in 2020/2021.
“The gaps between announcement and actual investments need to be worked on, and a more proactive all of the government approach to investors’ support across federal and States’ government is required to convert announcement to actual Investments.”
He cautioned the media against escalating news particularly critical news capable of scaring and driving investors to other climes.
“We must not unnecessarily escalate news, let’s try to reduce the tempo because a single reportage may cause damage to the country, investment-wise, so we must be cautious about our reportage,” he added.
In his presentation, the Assistant Director, Incentives Administration Division of NIPC, Mr Uchenna Okonkwo, who gave the summary of Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) for the Q1 2021, said a total of 17 PSI was granted in Q1 2021, comprising a total of capital investments worth N99.5 billion.
The commission revealed that a total of 4,026 jobs were created in the review period with Ogun State topping by destination while manufacturing tops by sector.
According to Mr Okonkwo, Anambra, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, and Kwara got NIPC’s PSI approval in the same quarter of the year under review with a cumulative capital investment worth N3.7 trillion.
The NIPC then called for more effort to help boost the Nigerian economy this year.
Modupe Gbadeyanka