ABUJA (The Southern African Times) – Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has said that US$8.99 billion was tracked as investment announcements for the third quarter of 2021.
This amount, according to NIPC, is 130% more than the value in the corresponding period in 2020, which is US$3.95 billion.
Acting Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NIPC, Mr. Emeka Offor, announced this on Tuesday at a media briefing in Abuja.
Offor explained that a total of 33 projects were tracked across eight States during the period, adding that the month of August was the most active during the quarter, accounting for 64% of the total announcements.
He said the top 10 announcements accounted for 96% of the volume tracked, noting that when compared to Q3 2020, there is a marked improvement in the level of confidence in the investing community post COVID-19 pandemic.
He said: “In the period covered by the Report, Lagos State received the largest share of the announcements with 20 projects accounting for 81% (US$7.29 billion) of the total in manufacturing, information and communications, finance and insurance, human health and social services, and electricity.
“Rivers State recorded US$300 million worth of announcements in manufacturing and transportation, and Oyo State had US231 million announced in electricity and trade (e-commerce).
“The 4 States accounted for 87% of the total investments.
“The top sectors were manufacturing (42%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (25%), information and communications (23%) and transportation (7%).
“Domestic investors were the most active during the period accounting for 47% of the announcements, followed by announcements from South Korea (22%), South Africa (16%), and the Kingdom of Spain (6%).
Offor said the Commission is putting in place a mechanism that would allow them to validate these announcements and progress them from mere announcements to actual investments.
He further pointed out that NIPC would continue to sustain its engagement with the sub-national governments through the State Investment Promotion Agencies (State IPAs).
This engagement, according to him, would aim at expanding the current coverage of the Nigerian Investment Certification Programme for States (NICPS).
The Acting Executive Secretary of NIPC, said his Commission recently had an engagement with State Investment Promotion Agencies aimed at building synergy across States for regional investment promotion and sustainable economic development.
He said the Commission is also sustaining tbe building of relationships with international development organisations such as UNIDO, GIZ, Afreximbank, in order to build the capacity of NIPC staff as well as elevate the investment potentials of Nigeria.
“Just yesterday, we held a webinar in collaboration with Afreximbank as part of our relationship with the Bank.
The theme of the webinar was Promoting Intra African Trade and Investment: Boosting Nigeria’s trade and Investment within Africa,” he said.
He noted that the NIPC Act, through which the Commission is established, mandated it to co-ordinate and monitor all investment promotion activities to which the Act applies.
Hinged on this, he said, the One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) was established in 2006 with 13 participating agencies, cutting across Federal, State and Non-governmental Organizations.
He said: “The Centre was established on the following principles of Convenience, Efficiency, Simplicity, Speed and Transparency.
“Through the Centre, operational manuals of participating agencies, as regards processing of investment entry requirements, have been streamlined.
“To enhance its effectiveness and ensure timely service, the Commission had always envisaged a virtual OSIC.
He said the Commission had been working on the Single Window Investors’ Platform, adding that the Window which has four components is the e-business facilitation platform of NIPC which is fashioned in line with the e-government initiative of the Federal Government.
“The SWIP project commenced in 2020 aimed at enabling NIPC leverage technology to better deliver on its mandate.
“It is therefore my honour and privilege to report that e-OSIC has been completed and is now live. With e-OSIC, investors can now have access to all services offered at the One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) remotely, and
apply for business registration, submit relevant documents, and make appropriate fee payments.
‘”Through the platform, NIPC will be able to track and review the services of participating agencies at the Centre.
“NIPC would always strive towards excellence. The foundation for transparency, accountability and proactive disclosure has been laid, we are committed to building on the successes of recent years as well as breaking new frontiers,” he assured.
