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Energy sector, oil and gas, and Manufacturing sectors topped the list of investments inflows monitored from 26 states of the federation and the federal Capital Territory, FCT, in the first quarter of 2018, the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said.
Yewandu Sadiku, executive secretary of (NIPC), said although most of the announced investments are yet to mature, the Commission now has a seamless collaboration with the states to enable it monitor investments inflow into the country closely.
Speaking with some select Journalists on Thursday in Abuja, Yewande said, “In the year 2016,the total capital inflow is, $5.4 billion, in 2017,there was a material increase in the volume of flows,and it is $12.4 billion. The bulk of it is potfolio investment and is still yet to mature.
According to the Executive Secretary,”In 2018,actual capital flows translated to $6.3 billion.The investment inflow in the first quater of 2018 is more than all of the flows that came into 2016, signaling that this year is going to be far better than the previous years.”
The Executive Secretary clarified further that,Investments announcements are not the same as investments,ash she revealed that the investments reflected in 112 projects tracked in 26 states of the federation and the federal Capital Territory.
“This figure gives us a sense, but I tell you that there are investments that may not be disclosed, since investors are not really under obligation to,” she added.
Also,she explained that the the highest proportion of such announcements came from Nigerians who indicated interest in investing into the country.
“We are interested in seeing more Nigerians invest in the country,and we have a Domestic Direct Investment model now in the commission and we working with the National Bureau of Statistics to track investments inflow into the country,” Yewande said.
While addressing NIPC’s collaboration with the states to track up their investments inflows, she said, “The current efforts of the NIPC in working more closely with the states is to increase the level of investment inflow into the country,and to ensure seamless collaboration and proper tracking.
She noted, however, that the states however has a certain level of autonomy,and could go for investments on their own,but what is important is that there is active collaboration,and ensure proper harmonisation”
“We currently have a WhatsApp group with all the state investments and promotion agency in Nigeria,various commissioners of investments, and Special Assistant to the governor on investments matters, to share information and also exchange ideas,aimed at better collaborations,” he said.
Speaking further on how the federal government is handling incentives with appropriate safeguards,the Executive Secretary said, “In 2017, we completed a reform that started on 2015-2016. The reform was aimed at bringing greater transparency on pioneer status incentives, and guidance to the government on the incentives that is being given and to ensure its value to the overall economy.”
It is really from 2017 when we had completed such reforms,that we deepened tracking of our various incentives.We had a draft of the report that speaks to the quantum of Pioneer status incentives that NIPC has granted since 1999, sector by sector. But we are taking that report through a validation process before we put it out,” Yewande said.
“This speaks to the fact that we are monitoring our incentives. What we are doing working with partners in the Public sector and international agency is on impact assessment on incentives given”
She assured further that there is going to be impact assessment on the pioneer status incentives given to measure the level of impact on the overall economy.
