Nigeria's Foreign Direct Investment Now $8.9bn- MInister

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru,  Thursday told the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria rose significantly to $8.9 billion at the end of 2012.

The amount, he said was far higher than the $6.1 billion realised by the country in 2010.
He also said at the end of 2012, Nigerians in the Diaspora contributed over $15 billion to the economy. Also, the minister of foreign affairs told the PDP NWC members that there were over 9,500 Nigerians in foreign prisons.

Giving accounts of his stewardship, Ashiru cited the United Nation’s World Investment Report, which stated that the total FDI into Nigeria was $8.9 billion. This, he said was far above the 2010.

Giving details, the minister said the General Electric Company of the United States was investing over $1 billion in the construction of a factory in Calabar, Cross Rivers state, while Procter and Gamble had begun the construction of a factory in Agbara, Otta in Ogun state, which is expected to create over 1,000 jobs.

He also said 1,000 ex-Niger Delta militants had been trained in various American institutions. The minister listed some foreign investments in Nigeria from Germany to include a financial inflow of €65 million for the 30 megawatts Kiri Dam project in Adamawa state, the €50 million for the 20 megawatts Yola Solar power station and a €1.5 billion for the 450 megawatts Gombe coal to power station, among other foreign investments into Nigeria.

Ashiru also told the NWC members that there was an FDI Portfolio of $54 million from Mexico for the development of agriculture plantations for the cultivations of bananas, pineapple and other crops for export to EU markets.

According to the minister, there was also another inflow of over $15 billion from Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Though, he said there had been plans to bring back some Nigerians in foreign prisons home to serve their jail terms through a new policy called Prisoners’ Transfer Agreement (PTA), he revealed that this would depend on the prisoners concerned, as they would not like their families and friends to know of their incarceration in foreign lands.

On the discriminatory United Kingdom Visa policy expected to commence by November this year, he said, “Nigeria have protested this policy, as it is against Commonwealth Policy”, adding that Nigeria would take measures to protect and defend the interest of Nigerians.