From Sola Ojo, Abuja
Across the world, political leaders embark on foreign trips to strengthen diplomatic relationships with other countries, and in the process strengthen their economic and security interests. These foreign trips take the forms of conferences, seminars and peer reviews, among others.
In most cases, the cost of such trips is not available to the public, but the intentions are always made public through media briefings or conferences, press releases, media reports, documentaries and infographics.
The Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has embarked on such foreign trips 30 times in his first 20 months or thereabout in office and attracted about $50.8 billion in foreign investment expected to manifest by the year 2030, according to the Minister of Trades, Industry and Investments, Dr Olajumoke Oduwole.
As President Tinubu succinctly put it in his January 2025 national broadcast, “On every foreign trip I have embarked on, my message to investors and other business people has been the same. Nigeria is ready and open for business”.
With the country attracting significant $50.8 billion investments from several countries which include the United Kingdom, Netherlands, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, China, France, India, and Ghana, Nigeria’s economy is expected to yield some immediate and long-term opportunities.
For instance, the investments are expected to come in the form of capital importation, which includes but is not limited to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – usually, long-term investments where foreign entities acquire assets or stakes in Nigerian businesses.
Also, Portfolio Investment, that is, investments in financial assets like equities, bonds, or money market (Including cryptocurrency) instruments without direct control over business operations.
Other investments like loans, trade credits, and other forms of foreign financial inflows. These and many more are the areas President Tinubu’s foreign trips focused on as a part of deliberate efforts to stimulate Nigeria’s economy and in fulfilling pre-election campaigns to Nigerians.
These investments are expected to benefit the country by way of attracting more foreign investment to boost the country’s economy, promoting economic development and growth, creating opportunities for economic expansion and ultimately, generating employment opportunities for all cadres of the labour force.
According to Dataphyte, Nigeria’s capital importation profile has exhibited mixed performance across various categories of foreign investments. However, the country has seen an increase in capital importation in recent quarters, with the banking, production, and financing sectors being the top recipients of foreign investments.
It is very germane to add that, while the pronouncements have been made in global space, home factors, such as economic policies, global economic conditions, infrastructure, regulatory environment, and investor confidence, will play a more significant role in the success or otherwise of these investment pronouncements by President Tinubu.
Recently, Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, hinted that her Ministry, in collaboration with other relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, would track the $50.8 billion investment pronouncements between now and 2030.
Presenting her Ministry’s scorecard during a ministerial briefing, facilitated by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja, Dr. Olajumoke said her ministry was poised to ensure the realisation of the President’s pronouncements in years to come.
She reiterated the importance of removing bottlenecks and providing incentives to support foreign direct investors. In addition to tracking investments, Dr. Oduwole discussed the government’s plans to optimise the trade priority of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, adding that “in terms of the $50.8bn pronouncement, we will continue to track it because I don’t want to give a specific figure from our end. We will track these investments as they come through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and portal. We also relate to what the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics releases.
“Our role as the Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment is to track these investments, to remove bottlenecks, to share the information on transparency and efficiency of quality service delivery, to support the potential investors with whatever incentives meant for them”, she said.
Speaking on what the country is doing to optimise opportunities embedded in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), she said, “For five years, we didn’t start as vibrantly as we could have, but we are picking up and we are being driven by businesses, our traders and our services.”
Established in 2018 by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA is a free trade area encompassing most of Africa, having about 1.3 billion people thereby making it the second largest free-trade area after the World Trade Organisation.
To her, the government aimed at removing bottlenecks and providing incentives to support foreign direct investors who are bringing their monies into the country.
The Minister also highlighted the importance of enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria, particularly in areas such as customs procedures and immigration rules in such a way that confidence is built in foreign investors that Nigeria is really ready for business.
Since power is the ultimate driver of the economy, Oduwole further added that the Ministry of Power was working to improve the power sector, which is expected to drive trade and investment in the country.
Overall, the $50.8 billion investment target set by President Tinubu’s administration is an ambitious goal that requires careful planning and execution and the Trade and Investment Ministry in partnership with relevant MDAs appears poised to press the necessary buttons to help realise this noble objective of his administration.