The needs of Nigerians in diaspora who are interested in investing in Africa’s largest economy are consistent with the concerns that investors generally have, Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), said on Thursday.
“The same things that Nigerians in diaspora need to better invest in Nigeria are the things that investors generally need to better invest in Nigeria,” Sadiku said at the BusinessDay ‘Diaspora Today’ virtual event.
Quoting the findings from an NIPC study, Sadiku said Nigerians in diaspora indicated difficulty with finding the right opportunities, right partner and the ease of doing business as some of their concerns.
According to the NIPC boss, the much-needed foreign direct investment (FDI) from Nigerians in diaspora cannot compete with the funds that are remitted to solely support their families.
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“The bulk of the remittances that Nigerians send home are not targeted at investment,” she said.
Study by the investment commission shows that an average of 70 percent of diaspora remittances to Nigeria is sent home for family support.
“The balance 30 percent that is interested in investment is first interested in real estate – real estate in the context of building homes in Nigeria for the person in diaspora,” she said.
Sadiku said from the findings, part of the 30 percent investment from Nigerians in diaspora is “interested in the portfolio rather than direct investment”.
The study was conducted to help the commission understand the potential that the diaspora audience represents and how best to engage and attract them.
Some of the recommendations from the NIPC CEO include a focus on progressively making it easy to do business in Nigeria, making it easy to tie the link between government policies and investor interest and getting the private sector better involved in the policymaking process.
“Having policies that are sufficiently stable to support long-term investment” was another solution suggested by Sadiku.
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