$8.4b coming into economy, says NIPC

By Franca Ochigbo, AbujaThe Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has said more jobs may be coming as some investors have committed to investing a total of $8.41billion into various sectors.Its Executive Secretary, Yewande Sadiku made this known during a briefing in Abuja, stating that the countrys unemployment level is the second highest globally.According to Sadiku, the $8.4billion is pledged for the first quarter of the year, while over 23.19 million Nigerians, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, were unemployed during the fourth quarter of 2020.She said although investment announcements are not actually investment, it gives an aggregate of investors interest in Nigeria and also help to translate those announcements to actual investment.Read Also;Banks pumped N4.56tr into economy in one yearSadiku added that the Commission has been honest on the gap between announcement and actual investment demonstrating potential, weve also said that a more proactive all government approach to investors support across federal and state level is required to convert more announcements to actual investment.She said: If we convert 10 per cent or 20 per cent of investment announcements it will make a material change but you cannot get to the point of conversion if you dont know what you are looking for.The Director, Strategic Communication, Emeka Offor noted that the investment announcement are categorised by sectors, by destination and by source.In the current Q1 2021 report, there is the manufacturing which takes the lead followed by construction and electricity, by destination we have Bayelsa State, we have Delta State and Akwa-Ibom and by source Nigerians are showing great resilience by coming out tops and the last quarter, Morocco comes second and UK third, he said.
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