Nigerian Economy Ripe for Increased Investment—Buhari

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Nigeria’s President, Mr Muhammadu Buhari, has urged investors to consider putting their money in the country as his administration has put in place measures to safeguard their investments.

Speaking at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum held on the margins of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Buhari noted that investments in improving security were yielding good dividends, lauding the Nigeria military for making significant progress in the fight against insecurity and building the momentum in reducing challenges to its barest minimum.

“We will continue to give all necessary support to our security outfits to ensure that they are able to tackle the challenge headlong,” he said, stressing that “the advantages and disadvantages of investing in Nigeria far outweigh the challenges.”

The President, who was represented at the opening session by his Chief of Staff, Mr Ibrahim Gambari, however, lamented the low inflows of capital into the country, primarily through Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), despite “the Nigerian economy ripe for increased investment.”

According to him, this is “hindering the financing of much-needed infrastructure and natural resource access projects.” But he assured that “our administration is already working on innovative ways to restore these flows.”

He said despite the global crisis fuelled by the Ukraine-Russian war, the lingering COVID-19 pandemic and insurgency in some parts of the country, Nigeria was on course to take its rightful place in the global economy, attributing this to the implementation of reforms aimed at attracting foreign investments and sustained improvement in governance.

He noted that the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Q1 2022 was driven mainly by the non-oil sector, crediting the revenue source diversification agenda of the government.

“The agricultural sector, our most important, has remained resilient in spite of security concerns, low irrigation, limited inputs, and legacy infrastructure challenges, with strong food demand bolstering growth.

“Growth in manufacturing reflected stronger household and business consumption because of the reopening of economic activities and improvement in supply chains.

“The present growth in our service sector is promising. Further privatisation, foreign investment, globalization and competition will stimulate growth and competition in the service sector and the economy.

“On the domestic front, the federal government is taking some bold, decisive and urgent action to address revenue underperformance and improve our operations to make investments in Nigeria very attractive,” he said.