Five States, FCT Attract $654.65m Foreign Investments

Five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, attracted a total of $655.4 million as capital importation in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023.

Foreign investors brought in their investments only into Lagos, FCT, Abia, Ogun, Akwa-Ibom and Ekiti in July, August and September.

While the remaining states recorded zero capital importation during the period, Lagos got $308.83m, FCT got $194.66m, Abia got $150.09m and Ogun got $1.00m. Akwa Ibom got $65,000 while Ekiti got $12,750 in the period under review, according to a data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Abia’s $150.09m in Q3 2023, was the highest capital importation since 2020 when it attracted $56.07m.

Capital importation can be defined as bringing in capital from abroad to fuel investment, trade, and manufacturing within a country.

Nigeria’s capital imports for the first nine months of 2023, comprising Q1 – Q3 totalled $2.82 billion, with $1.13 billion imported in Q1, $1.03 billion in Q2 and $654.65m in Q3 2023.

BudgIT’s lead researcher, Orji Uche, said only 19 states could fund their expenditure with internally generated revenue and federal allocation.

She warned state governments not to continue to rely on federal allocations, especially with the current uncertainties facing the oil market.

“And by sustaining themselves, we are looking only at the recurrent expenditure. Are you going to meet your operating obligations, are you able to pay salaries so that anything coming from federal allocation would go to investments in the key sectors of the economy”, she said.