The Federal Government is aiming to bring in foreign direct investments (FDI) by supporting domestic businesses that are on the brink of collapse due to multiple regulatory barriers.
Jumoke Oduwole, the minister of trade, industry and investment, said in an interview on Tuesday that the country plans to “retain domestic investments” as they are the “best advertisement for the Nigerian economy.”
Oduwole noted that by supporting local businesses and easing the country’s economic landscape so that it’s rid of bottlenecks, the needed FDIs will flow in, putting the economy on the right pedestal.
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“When you can facilitate business and make things easier, regulatory environment, bureaucracy, legislative reforms, judicial reforms, that make those businesses more comfortable, more productive and they can scale, and then we can fully advertise and beat our chest for foreign direct investment, knowing that they would get a lot of corroboration from the businesses on the ground,” she said.
The minister commended President Bola Tinubu for actively working to prioritise FDI through recent international engagements, describing him as “the chief investment officer of this administration.”
His efforts, which include a recent trip to India, are already yielding tangible results, the minister said, highlighting that just last month, some investment commitments made during the President’s trips were actualised, bolstered by Nigeria’s supportive fiscal and monetary policies.
Nigeria is contending with a dwindling FDI as multinationals exodus pile on lingering foreign exchange crisis, infrastructural deficit and multiple bottlenecks that are frustrating their operations.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that Africa’s most populous nation managed to rein in $29.03 billion worth of FDI in the second quarter of 2024, the lowest ever recorded according to available data up to 2013.
The steep decline in the country’s strongest ways of getting real economic growth and job opportunities have sparked controversies among many economists who noted that the government needs to improve the ease of doing business to boost investors’ confidence and drive in investments.
Oduwole who was, until her recent appointment, senior special assistant to the president on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), said her priorities, among others, are to increase export volumes in the first 30 days and accelerate productivity.
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She added that efforts are ongoing to reintroduce commodity exchanges for Nigerians in the agricultural sector, stating that such a policy will be a boost for the farmers to actualise the value of their hard work.
“We also want to immediately see how we can reintroduce commodity exchanges. That’s important for our biggest sector, agriculture and the business side of agriculture. How we make sure that farmers do get economic remuneration for their labour over the course of seasons and years,” Oduwole stated.
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