15 States Attract No Investments In Six Months , NBS Reveals
Between January and June this year, 15 state governments could not attract any form of fresh investments to their states, an analysis of a report by the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed.
The NBS’s capital importation report contains the total amount of fresh investments attracted to the Nigerian economy during the period of time.
In the report, which was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, the NBS revealed that none of the 15 states contributed to the entire $14.31bn which the federation attracted during the first half of this year.
The states that could not attract any form of investment inflow are Abia, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa and Enugu.
Others listed in the report are Kebbi, Kogi Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Based on the analysis of the NBS report, about 20 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory were able to secure fresh investments inflow into their states within the period under review.
The states that got new investments included Lagos State, which attracted the highest amount of $8.9bn during the six-month period.
The $8.9bn investment inflow into Lagos State represents about 62.19 per cent of the $14.31bn.
Lagos is followed by the Federal Capital Territory which attracted a total investment inflow of $5.25bn.
Adamawa State attracted the sum of $25m; the same with Benue and Cross River states while Imo, Kano, Rivers, and Kaduna states recorded investment inflow of $3m, $1.1m, $2.2m and $41.4m and $4.13m, respectively.
In the same vein, Akwa Ibom recorded inflow of $55,035, Anambra, $61,000; Bauchi, $99,980; Borno, $500,000; Delta, $40,000; Katsina, $576,796; Kwara, $200,000; Niger, $67,156; Ondo, $26000; Ogun, $7.01m and Oyo $2.03m,
The Founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Mr Atedo Peterside, had said that the level of structural imbalance in the country was forcing investors exit from the country.
In a paper delivered at the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit, Peterside described the draft Petroleum Industry Bill produced by the previous administration as “myopic,” as it was incapable of stimulating the needed investments in the sector.
He said, “Investors appear to have concluded that the Nigerian economy is rigged against all except the very well-connected and they are right.
“By definition, the well-connected investors are few and so our Investment/GDP ratio is likely to remain low until we make it possible for all other investors to come back and partake in the task of baking a bigger cake on the basis of a level-playing field.”
He said currently, only those that were “well-connected” could expect to have security of their lives and property; prompt dispensation of Justice; sanctity of contracts and non-harassment from multiple rogue regulators.
On the way forward, he said, “It is not too late for the President (Muhammadu Buhari’s government) and our national assembly to take a cue from Mozambique and learn how to enact laws that provide clarity and reduce uncertainty for investors in the oil and gas industry and other sectors.”
