Foreign investors bringing $30 billion into Nigeria – Tinubu

Nigeria’s economic reforms since the current administration took office last May have boosted investors’ confidence in the economy, helping the country secure $30 billion in commitment from foreign investors, President Bola Tinubu said Wednesday.

“This achievement demonstrates that our policies yield positive results, making Nigeria increasingly attractive for domestic and international investors,” the president, who was represented by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, stated at the 2024 Comptroller-General of Customs Conference in Abuja.

“Our commitment to creating an enabling business environment has resonated with the international investment community,” he added.

Attracting foreign capital inflow into Nigeria, which slid to fourth place behind South Africa, Egypt and Algeria in the pecking order of Africa’s largest economies this year, is a major plank of Mr Tinubu’s ambition of building a trillion-dollar economy by 2030.

The administration is stopping at nothing to lure back investors who deserted the economy after a foreign exchange scarcity made it impossible for many to recoup their investments, also putting off potential investors.

The president is banking on a series of deals from Asia, notably from India and China, to accelerate a sluggish economy that fell prey to two recessions under the watch of his predecessor.

The latest is the $5 billion trade facility the government is seeking from the Saudi government, aimed at investments in oil & gas, infrastructure, agriculture and the Saudi-Nigeria Business Council.

One of Mr Tinubu’s top priorities on taking office was to clear billions of dollars of foreign exchange overdue that had not only impacted inflows of dollars into the economies but also strained the local currency naira.

A raft of investor-friendly reforms like devaluing the naira and liberalising the foreign exchange market to allow the local unit to trade more freely and ending a fuel subsidy regime that had sapped the treasury for years have been lauded by multilateral organisations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

But this has brought pains and stoked a cost-of-living crisis that has tipped many into poverty in Africa’s most populous nation, where four out of every ten people already live in multidimensional poverty.

The policies have shot inflation to its peak level in a generation and driven borrowing costs to one of its highest points ever.

The legitimacy of the government is also being tested following a couple of nationwide protests staged to allow citizens to vent their discontent, some of which have bred bloody violence.

Last week, the government ordered the release of the thirty minors in its custody since an anti-government protest in August, accused of treason during demonstrations, which saw at least twenty-two people dead after clashes with security forces, according to Amnesty International.