Bauchi, Delta, Gombe… 26 States That Attracted Zero Foreign Investments In 2020

Foreign investors ignored 26 states in Nigeria in the whole of 2020.

The capital importation report recently published by the National Bureau of Statistics details the value of fresh investments that flowed into the Nigerian economy in 2020.

The 26 states are: Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

It is expedient to note that 11 of these states also failed to attract foreign investments in 2019.

These states are Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

The limited investment inflows into these states indicate that they were not really attractive to investors even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lagos remains an investor’s favourite

Lagos outshined nine other states and the federal capital territory (FCT) to top the list of states that attracted the most investments in 2020.

Nigeria’s commercial city attracted $8.31 billion in investments, representing 85.7 percent of the total capital inflow into the country.

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Abuja (FCT) emerged second top investment destination with $1.27 billion, while Abia came in third with $56.07 million.

Other states that attracted foreign investments in 2020 are Niger ($16.36 million); Ogun ($13.39 million); Anambra ($10.02 million); Kaduna ($4.03 million); Sokoto ($2.50 million); Kano ($2.38 million); while Akwa Ibom and Adamawa received $1.05 million and $0.02 million foreign investments respectively.

Out of 65 countries that invested in Nigeria, the United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment in 2020 with $4.17 billion.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed with $899.44 million; Netherlands ($890.58 million); and South Africa with ($875.99 million).

Nigeria’s economy was badly affected by the pandemic alongside the rest of the world.

The total capital importation fell by 59.65 percent to $9.68 billion in 2020 from the $23.99 billion in 2019.