Investors’ pledge to the Nigerian economy, between 2020 and 2021, increased by 39%. This is according to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
Disclosing this to journalists, the acting Executive Secretary, NIPC, Emeka Offor said investment pledges increased from $16.74 billion in 2020 to $23.30 billion, which indicated a surge of $6.56 billion in the period under review.
“The 2021 Investments Announcement Report indicated that $23.30 billion was tracked during the year, representing about 39% more than the value tracked in 2020, $16.74 billion,” he said.
While attributing the increase to gradual global economic recovery after the disruption occasioned by the restrictions imposed to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Offor noted that the rise was also indicative of the growing confidence of investors in the efforts of the government to improve the national investment landscape.
The NIPC Executive Secretary charged the commission’s leadership to track effectively investment pledged in the country, which according to him, would be helpful, especially as it relates to raising capital for the projection of the National Development Plan.
His words: “The competition for capital has become more intense amidst a drop in global volume.
“The work for NIPC in the next five years has been appropriately defined by the National Development Plan 2021 – 2022. The plan has projected a capital requirement of N348.7 trillion with 86% (N298.3 trillion) expected to be provided by the private sector.
“Mobilisation of this capital has become the focus of the commission. It is in this respect that the commission has begun the process of validating the records of the investment announcements. We expect the report from this exercise to give us a further understanding of investors’ readiness to invest in Nigeria.”
What you should know about the National Development Plan
Launched in December 2021, the National Development Plan targets an increase in the Labour Force of the country to 74 million by 2025.
According to the plan, the projection for 2021 is 67.05 million, 2022 is 68.75 million, 2023 70.44 million persons, 2024 72.20 million persons, and 2025 74.01 persons.
