Buhari Looks Vindicated, as Renowned Audit Firm Ranks Nigeria Top Foreign Investment Destination in Africa
- Following the outcry that greeted, president Muhammadu Buhari speech on Nigeria being the most attractive country to invest a new report seems to have vindicated the president
- According to a new report from a global auditing firm, Nigeria ranks first among 52 African countries in terms of foreign capital
- At the recently concluded Dubia exhibition, Buhari reminded Nigerians that the country's population, human and natural resources are too large to be overlooked
Despite security challenges, Nigeria has emerged as the continent's fastest-growing capital-investment hub.
This is according to a recent report by global auditing firm Ernst and Young titled ‘Africa Attractiveness Report 2021’ released on its website.
According to the report, Nigeria attracted the highest amount among the 52 African countries.
Source: UGC
How much was attracted
Nigeria attracted over $6.6 billion in investments in 2020, followed by South Africa ($3.8 billion), Angola ($3.1 billion), and Morocco ($2.4 billion).
PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG!
Nigeria's strong performance aided the West African region's high ranking, which was followed by Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
Eastern Africa received the least foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020 when compared to its counterparts in Western and Southern Africa.
Kenya received the most FDI in the region and the fifth most in Africa last year, attracting $500 million in capital investments.
Morocco and Egypt attracted the majority of investment in the North, while Angola attracted the majority of FDI in Central Africa.
What does the report say?
Part of Ernst and Young report reads:
“Africa’s large resource-export-dependent economies felt the impact of commodity price declines and rapidly decreasing demand, particularly from China, causing them to fall into recession.”
It also highlighted that FDI focus was shifting away from extractive industries towards the services.
“Over the last five years, service-based sectors received a total of $158 billion as capital investment, amounting to 45 percent of what was allotted to all industry groups, while the extractives sector accounted for 31 percent of all inbound capital between 2016 and 2020.”
“The telecommunications service sector received the highest capital investment totalling around $8.5billion, with the largest investments focused on Nigeria and South Africa as remote working and hybrid work models raised the demand for transformative business solutions."
We are ready for business
In a related story, Legit.ng reported President Muhammadu Buhari was in France with his economic advisers to attract more international businesses to Nigeria.
Nigeria's economy is in desperate need of foreign investment as oil revenues continue to decline and the country's growth has to be accelerated.
Nigeria's foreign investment fell to $875.62 million in the second quarter of 2021, compared to $148.59 million in the same time previous year.
Source: Legit.ng
